The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of the Czech Republic, His Excellency Vit Rakušan, visited the Republic of Ghana, from 30th April to 2nd May 2023. His three-day working visit was part of activities to deepen the bilateral relations between the two countries.

 
The areas of focus during his trip were security; the effect of the stability of the African continent on the European Union and the Czech Republic’s support and contribution towards the development of the Ghanaian health sector.   

 
During the visit, H.E Rakušan launched the next phase of the mission of the MEDEVAC Health and Humanitarian Programme of the Czech Ministry of the Interior at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. The programme focuses on plastic surgeries being performed by doctors of the Plastic Surgery Department of the Royal Vinohrady Hospital.
 
H.E Rakušan also held bilateral meetings with the Vice President of Ghana, His Excellency Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Minister of Interior, Hon. Ambrose Dery, Minister of National Security, Hon. Albert Kan-Dapaah and Minister of Health, Hon. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu.
 
H.E Rakušan’s meetings with the Vice President of Ghana, Ministers of Interior, National Security, and Health focussed on bilateral cooperation, security in Ghana and across the African continent and developing the Ghanaian health sector. He expressed his country’s appreciation of Ghana’s support for the UN resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
 
In addition was the Security Development Cooperation Programme of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic for collaboration between Ghanaian Police Services and their Czech counterparts for exchanges in the areas of internal security and cyberspace crimes.
 
At a cocktail reception held in his honour, which provided an opportunity to meet and engage with Ghanaian industry captains and relevant stakeholders with respect to Ghana – Czech bilateral trade at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, I was privileged to have a brief interaction with H.E Rakušan.  
 
He expressed his excitement to be visiting Ghana, which is a strategic partner of the Czech Republic on the African continent and further commented on the MEDEVAC Health and Humanitarian Programme of the Czech Ministry of the Interior.
 
“It was great to see the results of our MEDEVAC programme which started in Ghana in 2019 on the ground. I thank our doctors and the other people from the programme for being able to improve the quality of life of Ghanaians. So far, our experts have managed to perform 261 operations on 238 patients. The missions focus on patients from the deprived parts of Ghana, often with complicated diagnoses.
 
Following the previous successful missions focusing on orthopaedics and gynaecology at Tamale Teaching Hospital, a mission started last year on plastic and reconstructive surgery on trauma follow-up, particularly for women and children with congenital limb defects or following severe burn injury”, he highlighted.
 
H.E Rakušan also participated in the Czech – Ghana Health Care and Pharmaceutical Business Cooperation Seminar held in Accra and urged business collaborations and capacity building between Czech and Ghanaian companies in the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical sector. 
 
By Chris Koney