President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo yesterday gave his surest of bets to complete the 111 hospitals started by the government before his term of office ends.
The project will provide 111 standard 100-bed district hospitals with accommodation for doctors and nurses in districts without district hospitals.
It will also see to the construction of six new regional hospitals for each of the six new regions including the rehabilitation of the Effie Nkwanta Hospital in the Western region, one new Regional hospital for the Western region and three Psychiatric hospitals for each of the three zones of the country; north, middle and coastal at an estimated cost of $1.765billion.
Work on the project which is at the prepatory stages however stalled due to the effect of the corona virus infection which affected government finances.
Speaking at the 60th anniversary celebration of the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS) in Accra a while ago, President Akufo-Addo indicated that “a great deal of the preparatory work for the execution of this ambitious project has been completed.”
He therefore gave his word “it is my determination that the entire project will be completed before I leave office on 7th January 2025.”
The President believes such a development will help make Ghana a centre of medical excellence and a preferred destination for medical tourism in West Africa.
Over the last 5years since he took office, he said his government has pursued policies in sector of national life to improve quality and placed the nation on the path of sustained development, progress and prosperity.
That, he said was part of reasons the Ministry of Health recently launched Universal Health Coverage (UHC) roadmap.
The vision of the UHC roadmap is to guarantee good health for all people living in the country.
With this definition of UHC, the President said “every Ghanaian will have access to quality healthcare services without money being a barrier, with the National Health Insurance Scheme helping to realise this.”
He said ensuring access to services is not be limited geographical accessibility but also to timely access to healthcare services especially in the context of emergency care”
He, therefore, noted that “government commitment to improving our healthcare delivery system is evident in the Agenda 111 initiative”
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent