President Akufo-Addo, on Friday commissioned a 60-bed Tain District Hospital, located in Nsawkaw, Tain in the Bono East Region.
This hospital, initiated by former President Kufuor in 2008 as part of the ‘Ghana Hospitals Project’, was the fourth of such hospitals commissioned by President Akufo-Addo following the opening of the Upper West Regional Hospital in Wa, the Ga East Municipal Hospital in Accra, which is now one of the country’s foremost Covid-19 Treatment Centres, and the Ahafo Ano Municipal Hospital in Tepa.
The Ghana Hospital Project involves the design, construction and equipping of a military hospital, two regional hospitals and six district hospitals at the cost of US$339 million.
Other hospitals being constructed under this project are the 250-bed regional hospital at Sewua in the Bosomtwe District; the 60-bed municipal hospital at Salaga in the East Gonja Municipality; the 60-bed municipal hospital at Konongo in the Asante Akim Central Municipality; and the 60-bed district hospital at Twifo Praso in the Twifo/Atti-Morkwa District.
All of these projects, the President stressed, were expected to be commissioned before the end of this year.
The Tain District Hospital was designed with several departments, including administration, outpatient department (OPD), physiotherapy unit, pharmacy, radiology, laboratory, surgical suite (operation dep.), emergency & casualty and obstetrics & gynecology (maternity and child health), all at the cost of $36.6 million.
The rest are central sterile supply department, ambulance station, inpatient wards – 100 bed capacity, staff dining, kitchen & outdoor cooking area, medical gases production unit, laundry, mortuary, medical waste department, general stores, maintenance department, power station, relatives’ hostel, 14 staff housing units and a mini market.
President Akufo-Addo reiterated his commitment to improving access to essential and quality health services through the provision of the necessary health infrastructure, equipment and logistics, including the deployment of appropriate technology, as part of our drive to attaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
He urged administrators to embrace and strengthen the culture of maintenance.
“This edifice has been put up at great cost to our nation, and we should be in the position, some 10 years down the line, to see it still in good condition. It should not fall in ways in which several institutions like this in Ghana have gone. The leadership of this facility must set the example for its periodic and constant maintenance, and will be held accountable for this,” he added.