Government says it will review all the Agenda 111 projects started by the previous administration and take a decision on its completion.
The projects, started by the previous government to bridge the infrastructural deficit within the health sector got stalled at various stages of completion.
According to the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, who spoke exclusively to 3news on his first day at work, it will cost government about 1.4 billion dollars to complete all the projects.
A total of 111 hospitals were expected to be constructed nationwide, each costing about US$16.88 million, and were scheduled to be executed within 18 months as a lesson learnt from the COVID -19 pandemic.
The initiative is to construct and equip district hospitals, regional hospitals in the newly created regions, 1 regional hospital in the Western Region, 2 psychiatric hospitals in Kumasi and Tamale and the Accra Psychiatric to be re-developed.
However, the projects have not been completed and handed over though many of them are at various stages of completion.
The question remains whether the current administration will complete all projects left by the previous government.
Mr Akandoh said: ‘‘I will hasten slowly to say all other projects will be continued. For example,you have started about 101 hospitals for the past, let’s say four years, none has been completed. Not a single one has been completed. You need not less than 1.4 billion US dollars to be able to complete these projects. Okay, you have spent about more than $400 million you haven’t completed even one, even per the budget of the Agenda 111, which I think one is around 18 million US dollars. The 400 million could have even completed more than 20 yet we haven’t even gotten one completed.”
According to the Health Minister, further engagements will be done to review the projects in consultation with the president for the next action.
‘‘So we have to think through to review the whole system again. Know the levels of completion. Know which area needs, what urgency. If there is a particular area where there is no health facility at all, are we going to consider those areas first? What’s the level of completion there? How much do we do? Or how much do we need such projects, you must have dedicated sources of funding to run them,” he stated.
“So if I sit here and promise you that we are going to finish all these projects within four years, you will be the same person to run back to me and ask me, you said in your first day of office, you said you’re going to finish all these projects. And here we are. We haven’t finished them, so I’ve just come I have to take my time. We review all these things, think through it, and discuss with the President how we can embark on all these projects. Why not? Our main target is to have accessible, quality and affordable health care for the people of this country’’ Mr Akandoh explained.
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