Agenda 111 Is On Course, Set To Take Off In March This Year-Health Minister

The minister of Health Hon Kwaku Agyemang Manu in an encounter with the Press in Accra has inferred that the president’s intention of building 111 health facilities is seriously on course. Briefing Newsmen at the Ministry of Information in Accra , the Officer in charge at the Ministry gave detailed account of project at various stages. The officer intoned that since the declaration of the project in March 2020 by the president, the project has gone through various dimensions in respect of feasibility studies , land acquisition, land preparation, documentation, resolution of land disputes , mobilisation of contract fees ,etc. The man in charge of the projects disclosed that eight Ghanaian consultants and architects have been selected to supervise the construction of the hospitals. He said it has taken his outfit in collaboration with chief of staff office who is the supervising authority since the project is under the presidency. He stated that so far 67 of such projects is taking off in March 2022 as a result of full acquisition and clearance given for the smooth take. In all 92 lands of 15 acres each have been fully acquired processed and redied. 51 of these lands are good for the projects but 41 have some issues to address. Further, he disclosed that certain places don’t have the 15 acre stretch to enable the the project to take place. He mentioned places like Maamobi and Adentan municipalities as well as other places who don’t have the right land sizes. Enumerating some of the challenges he alluded to include land ownership, litigation between families, chiefs, assemblies and individuals. At some point the acquisition team had to go into long arbitration and settlement. In some cases the lands had to be abandoned midway due to some bottlenecks. But in all these challenges the projects will hit the road first quarter of this year . Some contractors have moved to site whiles a few have started actual work at an embryonic stage . The duration for the contract is 18 months ,all things being equal. The projects involve 6 regional hospital, a number of district hospitals and two Psychiatric hospitals in the northern belt as well as rehabilitation of the Accra psychiatric hospital. The officer intimated that the president takes a serious interest of the project and will make sure that the projects are done on time as scheduled in the time table. In the main address, the minister reteirated that his Ministry has not abandoned health facilities started by the previous regime. He mentioned several of them like ; University of Ghana Medical Center second phase completion, Bekwai Government Hospital, Sewia Hospital, Somanya government Hospital, La Polyclinic Reconstruction,etc. Six polyclinics in Accra have been completed and 5 others have been completed elsewhere in the country. 15 CHIP compounds have also been built whiles 26 are underway in the country. Expansion works on Komfo Anokye, Korle Bu , Tamale Teaching regional hospitals are also on- going to upgrade them. “Those who are saying that show us just one hospital you have built , here we are ; we have done a lot in two years. We shall complete many projects inspite of the stiff challenge and difficulties brought by Covid 19 pandemic “. He recounted the impediments introduced by the disease that has affected the world economic order and politics including the US and China. “If in the midst of this pandemic the government has done all this health infrastructure, then we need to praise the president. The WHO record shows Ghana and South Korea were the best managers of the Covid 19 scourge in the whole world. This has been recognized by the world leaders and the president has been accorded the best credentials in terms of Covid 19 management.” He said we are not out of the woods yet but we need to take care to further reduce the infection. The best way is to vaccinate against the Covid 19 pandemic to avoid the escalation of the disease. He praised the government for the fforts it undertook to battle the disease.

Source:Nana Poku/johnawuniktv@gmail.com