Baffuor Ossei Hyeaman Brentuo addressing attendants of the summit
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has added his voice to calls for the immediate completion of the 43-year-old uncompleted paediatric centre project at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.
He has charged President Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration to, in the general interest of the country and its people, complete the project which has become a white elephant.
“I hope Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will put the conscience of the nation at rest by bringing the project to early completion to enable the hospital to save the lives of infants,” Baffuor Osei Hyeaman Brentuo, the Manwerehene, said on behalf of Otumfuo.
The Asantehene wondered why past governments have abandoned the project which was started in the mid 1970s.
He was speaking during the opening of a two-day Ministry of Health’s (MoH) annual health sector performance review and summit which kick-started at Golden Tulip Kumasi City Hotel on Wednesday.
Otumfuo expressed deep concern over the practice whereby new governments abandon projects they inherit from their predecessors, stressing that the country and its people suffer when such unfortunate developments occur.
He, therefore, urged President Akufo-Addo and his government to depart from the old fashion and chart a new positive path by completing all the projects that they have inherited from their predecessors so that the country would experience effective growth.
The Asantehene also tasked the Akufo-Addo-led government to introduce new policies and programmes that would help revamp the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) so that healthcare would be accessible to the people.
He also charged the MOH to find ways that would ensure an effective decentralisation in the health system, whereby medical care would be closer to people living in smaller town so as to reduce pressure on the teaching hospitals such as KATH.
Minister of Health Kwaku Agyemand-Manu announced that amount owed by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to service providers in respect of May 2016 will be settled by the close of the week or early next week.
Government, he said, was preparing to inject some good amount of money any moment from now which will enable the authority to settle three months of the arrears by the end of May June, this year.
“Thereafter it is anticipated that monthly releases from the Finance Ministry will be forthcoming,” the minister stated, urging players in the health sector to work to improve in areas that the health sector failed to shine during last year.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi