Government has not abandoned any hospital building project – Health Minister

Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the Health Minister has refuted allegations by the minority members of the parliamentary health committee that the present government had abandoned hospital projects started by the Mahama-led administration.

He told the media in Accra on Thursday that, the Nana Addo-led government has prioritised the health of citizens and would not abandon health projects at the expense of the wellbeing of the public.

This comes after the minority in parliament, last week, made known its intention to serve notice to the health minister to explain to the house why the present government had abandoned some hospital project started by the previous government in the Ashanti Region.

Mr Agyeman-Manu said all hospital building projects started by the previous government were on-going for which funds had been approved and were at various stages of execution.

He stated that the second phase of work on the Tamale Teaching hospital, which entailed major rehabilitation, had been completed and commissioned for use since March this year.

He said government inherited the construction of 10 polyclinics in the central region, located at Potsin, Bimpong Egya, Etsii Sunkwa, Ekumfi Naakwa, Dawurampong, Mankrong, Biriwa and Bisease, which were commissioned for use in August 2018.

“Works on five polyclinics in the Greater Accra region located at Ashiaman, Bortianor, Adentan, Sege and Oduman, which was started by the previous government, have also been completed and commissioned in May for use in,” he said.

Giving an update on the eight Euroget projects, which was started by President Kuffour, Mr Agyeman-Manu noted that, the Wa hospital had been commissioned and was being prepared for operationalization.

Similarly, the Kwabenya hospital was scheduled to be completed by the end of October while the projects in Nsawkaw and Tepa were expected to be completed by June 2020.

The remaining four projects at Twifo Praso, Konongo, Sewua and Salaga would be completed in November next year.

“The design, construction and equipping of seven districts hospitals and integrated IT systems in Ghana, which was scheduled to be completed in December 2016, had been suspended due to land and fund related issues.

However, work on the three sites, Kumawu, Fomena and Takoradi European are scheduled for completion by June 2020,” he said.

Mr Agyeman- Manu observed that there were continuations of old projects, which had phased out due to funding constraints and had remained on the drawing table for the last five years and beyond, which had now received government’s approval to proceed.

The Health Minister reiterated that the policy on infrastructure was to provide every district with a hospital, taking into consideration the newly created districts in efforts to attain Universal Health Coverage.