University of Ghana Medical Center
Government has established a mechanism to address all outstanding issues relating to the determination of the ownership and management of the University of Ghana Medical Centre.
The facility has not been operational since its completion in November 2016, however, there are reports of disagreements over the legitimate manager of the facility – whether it should be managed by the Health Ministry or the University of Ghana.
But at a meeting convened by the Office of the President on Tuesday between the University of Ghana, Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) to discuss the issue, the various stakeholders reaffirmed their commitment to the full and effective implementation of the University of Ghana Medical Centre project.
This was contained in a joint communiqué signed for the MoH by Deputy Health Minister Kingsley Aboagye Gyedu and his colleague, Professor Kwesi Yankah for the Ministry of Education and Professor Yaw Twumasi on behalf of the University of Ghana.
They further reiterated the need to address issues concerning the ownership and management of the centre.
“To this end, we assure the university authorities, community and the general public that government remains committed to the vision of the project for which the government secured a loan of $ 217million,” they stated.
To this end, the government says it remains committed to the vision of the project for which it secured a loan of USD217 million.
In the year 2012, the government of Ghana signed a contract with Messrs Engineering and Development Consultant (EDC) of Israel to build the first phase of the facility and hand it over to the university.
The university designated 400 acres of land for the entire project.
However, another source claimed that the agreement was subsequently signed between the Ministry of Health and the University of Ghana in 2015, which gave ownership of the $217 million facility to the university.
Phase one of the project was inaugurated by former President John Dramani Mahama on January 6, 2017, but has since been embroiled in controversy over who the real owners and managers should be.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent