President Akufo-Addo laying the foundation for the commencement of Agenda 111
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday officially actualised plans to build hospitals all over district capitals in the country by cutting the sod for the simultaneous commencement of the ambitious project at Trede in the Atwima Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti Region.
The much-talked-about Agenda 111 Hospitals initiative is arguably the single largest health infrastructural project ever done in the country, particularly in the Fourth Republic.
It is in direct response to the negative exposure that the COVID-19 pandemic visited on the country.
The initial plan was for the Akufo-Addo-led NPP administration to build 88 district hospitals where there are none, and this was also captured in the NPP’s 2020 manifesto.
Along the line, the government revised the 88 district hospitals and moved it to 111, with additional hospitals including 13 more district hospitals, bringing the total figure to 101.
The remaining are six regional hospitals in the newly created regions, two specialised hospitals (mental) in the middle and northern belts, redevelopment of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, as well as a regional hospital in the Western Region and the renovation of the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital.
Regional Breakdown
The regional breakdown include Ashanti (10), Volta (9), Eastern (8), Greater Accra (7), Upper East (7), Oti (5), Upper West (5), Bono (5), Western North (5), Savannah (3), Bono East (2), North East (2), and all the hospitals are supposed to be built from scratch.
In the supplementary budget read by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, the government said GH¢600 million had been budgeted for the project and Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah also disclosed on Sunday that the government had secured $100 million start-up funds through the Ghana Investment Infrastructure Fund (GIIF) to ensure the smooth take-off of the project.
The Information Minister also said that the Project Implementation Committee chaired by Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, secured sites and land titles covering 15 acres each for 88 out of the 101 district hospitals and each unit would cost about $17 million.
Each district hospital will have facilities such as Outpatient services like consultation for medical and surgical cases, ophthalmology, dental and physiotherapy, and would also have emergency and accident wards, male and female wards, pediatric centres, isolation wards and imaging services among others.
There are also plans to provide accommodation for doctors, nurses and other hospital staff who will be working in the hospitals.
Simultaneous Action
President Akufo-Addo, cutting the sod for the projects to commence yesterday, said his government will do well to ensure the projects are completed within the timeline of 18 months.
The President said an audit of the country’s health system indicated that 101 districts in the country had no district hospitals, and coupled with the creation of the six new regions, the government had to embark on the project to provide underserved areas of the country with health facilities of their own.
“The goal is thus, to position Ghana as an attractive medical destination, with excellent medical facilities, for our neighbours to patronise,” the President said, adding that the NPP government anticipates that Ghana would become a Centre of Medical Excellence and a destination for medical tourism in the West African sub-region by 2030.
He said that “all these programmes, collectively, will position Ghana as a leading medical travel destination in West Africa, with the potential to add some $2billion to the nation’s GDP by 2030, and, in the process, create some 50,000 jobs in the sector.”
He said “each hospital is being constructed at a cost of $16.88 million; that is $12.8 million for construction and $4 million used for medical equipment. All the hospitals are to be completed in 18 months. Works will commence in the regional and other hospitals in the latter parts of the year.”
“These modern, fully equipped state-of-the-art hospitals will have facilities for out-patient services, including consultations services, medical and surgical cases, medical services, physiotherapy, maternal and child health unit, public health unit, accidents, and emergency,” he stated.
More Jobs
He said “the strategy of direct and indirect job openings to stimulate the economy of various communities which the facilities are to be created. These include the creation of an estimated 25,000 jobs during the construction and design phase. i.e., jobs for architects, civil mechanical and electrical and biomedical engineers, quantity surveyors, masons, carpenters, welders, steel benders, painters, tailors, and related professionals and artisans as well as other indirect jobs.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu