Gov’t to build 21 hospitals to tackle ‘health crisis’

Government is undertaking ten projects that will see the construction of some 21 hospitals across the country.

This forms part of measures to address concerns captured in Citi FM and Occupy Ghana’s petition demanding the operationalization of newly built health facilities in the country.

According to the statement, signed by the Acting Chief Director for the Ministry of Health, Nana Kwabena Adjei Mensah, out of the ten projects, the Ministry of Health will have oversight over five, while the other five will be implemented by the Bank of Ghana,  Ministries of Roads, Interior, and Defence.

The five projects expected to be supervised by the government are:

1.Design, construction and equipping of 2 Regional Hospitals and 6 District Hospitals by Euroget DeInvest

2. Maternity and Children’s Block at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital
3. Design, Construction, and Equipping of seven District Hospitals with Integrated IT systems by NMS Infrastructure Limited
4. Construction and Equipping of Bekwai District hospital project
5. Construction Male and Female wards, CSSD, Laundry Theatre, Mortuary and Blocks of Flats at Akatsi District Hospital

The two petitioners were also pushing for a comprehensive Emergency Response System (ERS) in Ghana, contending that the matters at hand have “reached a crisis point.”

“The matters now require drastic measures, one of which is our request herein that the President takes urgent steps to operationalize the facilities and institute the ERS throughout Ghana,” they said in their petition.

They urged the President to “put in place and publish a clear road-map with timelines for addressing the matters.”

It is the conviction of the petitioners that the facilities when operationalized, the facilities will “reduce pressure on the existing tertiary and regional referral facilities and add about a 4000-bed capacity to the existing nationwide figure of about 20,000 beds.”

The petition was forwarded to the presidency on July 25th, 2018.

By: Marian Ansah/citinewsroom.com/Ghana

Source: citifmonline.com