Agenda 111 will deliver 20,000 direct jobs for health professionals – Akufo-Addo

On August 18, 2021, 4:08 AM

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the construction of hospitals under the government’s Agenda 111 project would create 20,000 jobs for health professionals in the country.

According to the president, in 18 months, when the hospitals are completed, there would be the recruitment of health professionals, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

He said this at a sod-cutting ceremony at Trede in the Atwima Kwanwoma District in the Ashanti Region on August 17 to mark the start of the construction of the 111 hospitals to solve the infrastructural deficit in the country’s health sector.

Touching on the need to construct the 111 hospitals, President Akufo-Addo said the COVID-19 had revealed the country’s unequal distribution of healthcare facilities.

Over the years, the country’s focus has been on major areas like Accra, Kumasi, Bono, and two other cities.

Amid this revelation, he said, it became important for the government to provide these hospitals for some 88 districts without hospitals and the newly created regions.

As set out by the president, the project’s objective is to ensure that Ghanaians in every district and region in the country have access to quality healthcare services.

Tapping into domestic capabilities of Ghanaians

The hospitals have been designed by 250 local contractors to reflect the country’s unique requirements, including the impact of climate, socio-cultural conditions, and traditional practices.

The supervision of the work would be done by local contractors, and maintenance of these hospitals, also be done by domestic facility management professionals “as part of the government’s policy of developing domestic capability in the building and construction sectors of the economy”.

“This will undoubtedly help retain most of the country to engender further investment in the economy… and also provide a blueprint for speedy and cost-effective implementation of future health infrastructure programmes in the country,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo urged Ghanaian entrepreneurs to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the significant investment and produce quality building and construction materials required by the hospitals.

“We have incorporated into this agenda the strategy of direct and indirect job openings to stimulate the economies of the various communities in which the facilities are to be located. This includes the creation of an estimated 25,000 jobs during the construction and design phase.

That is jobs for architects, civil, mechanical, electrical, mechanical, and biomedical engineers, quantity surveyors, masons, carpenters, still benders, welders still benders, painters, tillers, and related professionals and artisans,” President Akufo-Addo stated.

The Agenda 111 hospitals

Each hospital is being constructed at the cost of US$16.88 million (approximately $17m), which is US$12.88 million for construction and US$4 million for medical equipment. All the hospitals are to be completed in eighteen (18) months. Work will commence on the regional and other hospitals in the latter part of the year.

These modern, fully equipped state-of-the-art hospitals would have outpatient services, including consultation facilities for medical and surgical cases, ophthalmology and dental services, a physiotherapy unit.

There would also be a maternal and child health unit, public health unit, four state of the art surgical theatres for maternity, obstetrics and gynaecology, accident and emergency, and general surgery and imaging facilities.

In addition, each hospital will have the full complement of male, female, paediatric and isolation wards.

Provision has been made for support facilities, including a kitchen, laundry, sterilisation department, mortuary, energy centre, maintenance department, and staff accommodation for doctors, nurses and other health workers.

Story By Francis Ntow