Prez Akufo-Addo’s 88 hospitals promise was a vision – Agyeman-Manu

The Minister-designate for Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has stated President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s pledge to construct 88 new district hospitals between July and December 2020 was only a vision.

The President’s vision, he said, should translate into action, which should also translate into a roadmap for the construction of the facilities hence the promise it would start in July.

According to him, work on the construction has unfortunately slowed down due to challenges that have cropped up.

President Nana Akufo-Addo last year disclosed this in his eighth address to the nation on measures government had taken against the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Government, the President said, has decided to undertake this major investment in the healthcare infrastructure sector, the largest in the history of the state, as part of efforts to stem the tide of the disease.

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Mr. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu who appeared before the Appointments Committee on Wednesday during the public sittings said, “That was the President’s vision which was supposed to have been translated into action.”

“He set up a committee at the presidency led by the Chief of Staff. I was a member. We pulled one or two infrastructure directors from our ministry. There was a representation from the Ghana Health Service too.

“What they asked us to do immediately was to write to all the district directors for health services to allocate land and give us the site plans of where they want these district hospitals to be sited.”

According to him, close to about 13 districts have not yet completed this exercise but assured that contracts have been awarded for the rest and awaiting sod-cutting for construction to take off.

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The Minister-designate stated that because the work volume is so huge and could not, therefore, be added to an already burdened Ministry, a special team has been set up to coordinate the work.

The initial costing of the projects, he said, has been done on the basis of averages, which is between a minimum of US$5 million and a maximum US$7 million.

He noted that multiplying these estimates to the 88 would give the minimum and maximum cost of the construction of these health facilities.

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FrontPageGhana.com