Accra – Ghana’s indigenous eCommerce & SMS messaging company, Hubtel.com, has donated furniture and equipment valued at Eighty Thousand Cedis (GHS 80,000) to support the refurbishment of a new call center. The call center is an initiative of the Ministry of Communication in the fight against Covid-19.

Hubtel.com made the donation in response to requests made by the Minister of Communications, Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, at a recent press briefing urging the private sector to augment the government’s efforts at making accurate, reliable information about this novel virus accessible to the public. By ensuring the flow of useful information, the ministry hopes to improve early detection, reporting, and surveillance, and provide an avenue for prompt interventions. The donation which was received at the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) on behalf of the Minister by its Director General, Richard Okyere-Fosu, and his Deputy Director General, Kwaku Kyei Ofori, included office furniture, laptops, call center headsets, Covid-19 sanitation materials and several meters of network cables.

The donation forms part of Hubtel’s commitment to invest in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic by ensuring that staff, customers, suppliers, and the community at large are supported in diverse ways to stay safe. In her note of acknowledgment, the Minister of Communication stated that “It’s a remarkable gesture. I have the utmost pleasure of saying ‘Thank you’, to Hubtel on behalf of the government and people of Ghana”. The Minister further commented that the donation will go a long way to help set up the unit.

Speaking at the presentation, the General Manager of Hubtel, Ernest Apenteng emphasized that “Our donation to this call center is motivated by people’s desire for accurate, credible and timely information about Covid-19, especially in this era where so much fake news and information abounds.” “Hubtel’s contribution in this war is to give support to those areas that we are not doing so well for lack of poor information delivery, for example, some recovered patients are reportedly been stigmatized on return to their communities. And there are many to whom access to essential information is not so simple. Therefore, we have committed to prioritize delivering information on these essential needs.”

Present at the donation were some management and staff members of Hubtel who urged the general public to continue to heed the health advice by maintaining physical distancing, wearing face masks,s and washing hands regularly. They also urged the public to use technology services as much as possible to avoid personal contact.

Ghana has confirmed over 5000 cases of the novel coronavirus and 22 deaths. In the wake of the pandemic, the government has put in place measures to help with containment, treatment, and accurate information dissemination.

The Covid-19 call center is set up to respond to inquiries from the public about the virus. The center can be reached via 0307007001