President Nana Akufo-Addo has revealed that 89 hospitals are at various levels of completion under his government’s Agenda 111 programme.
Speaking at the Maiden College Awards Night of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons on Tuesday, the President said his government is committed to fulfilling the constitutional right of access to quality health care, hence the introduction of the Agenda 111 project.
“Government’s commitment to improving our health care delivery system is evident in the Agenda 111 initiative, which is providing 111 standard, hundred-bed district hospitals with accommodation for doctors and nurses in districts without district hospitals, six new regional hospitals for each of the six new regions, rehabilitating the Effia Nkwanta hospital in the Western Region, building one new regional hospital for the Western Region, and two psychiatric hospitals for two of the three zones of the country, that is, the middle and north.”
He disclosed that the $1.765 billion project, which is partly being undertaken by local companies, has so far seen a 52% average completion rate, with some of the hospitals achieving 70 to 80% completion.
“Thus far, construction of 86 district hospitals, two regional psychiatric hospitals, and the western regional hospital is ongoing, all of which are at various levels of completion. The average completion rate of the 89 ongoing projects is 52%, with work on some of the sites 70 to 80% complete,” the President said.
President Akufo Addo also envisioned “Ghana as a centre of medical care in West Africa by 20230, leveraging Ghana’s favourable status as the most peaceful country in the West Africa sub-region, a beacon of democracy, and a land of opportunities.”
Awards were presented to scores of staff and other officials in the health sector for their meritorious service to the college, with a special award going to former president John Agyekum Kufuor, who was cited as playing a pioneering role in the establishment of the college.