Minority Sceptical About Government’s New Promise On La General Hospital

The Minority in Parliament is sceptical about the government’s assurance regarding the timely commencement of the La General Hospital project.

During the 2024 Budget in Parliament presentation on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta assured the public that the La General Hospital Project, which had been stalled, will resume next week.

According to him, the government had renegotiated the contract terms, and funding for the project will now be sourced from the national budget.

However, addressing journalists in parliament, Minority Chief Whip, Governs Agbodza, said that the government would not be able to fund the project to completion fully.

“I am extremely angry that the finance minister did not say anything about the suspension of the Bank of Ghana headquarters and pumping that money into the La General Hospital. Now that they are claiming the La General Hospital will cost 50 million Euros, we could have taken part of the 250 million dollars meant for the BoG head office and injected it into the completion of the La General Hospital. We all know that when they say a project is under Government of Ghana support, it means it’s under life support. I don’t foresee the government having 50 million Euros easily to pump into that project,” he said.

The La General Hospital was demolished in July 2020 due to what authorities said were severe structural problems reported by the hospital’s administration.

President Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the reconstruction of the La General Hospital Redevelopment Project on August 10, 2020, but work has yet to begin.

Residents of La and its environs have expressed anger over the undue delay, with the MP for the area, Rita Odoley Sowah, calling on First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo to intervene.