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The Ahanta West Municipal Hospital project at Bokro in the Western Region is yet to be completed, the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has revealed.
He said: “As we speak, we need to cough not less than $9 million for this project, which is about GH¢140 million. Completing the project is one thing, and paying for it is another thing. The operation of a hospital is not just the brick and mortar.”
Mr Akandoh disclosed these in an interview with journalists last Friday, after inspecting the Ahanta West Municipal Hospital project, which is part of the Agenda 111 projects, initiated by the NPP government.
He was accompanied by the Western Regional Minister, Joseph Nelson, and the Acting Director General of Ghana Health Service, Prof. Samuel Kaba Akoriyea.
He indicated that the Agenda 111 projects, including psychiatric hospitals, were estimated to cost about $1.9 billion.
Mr Akandoh said at the time the NPP government left office, it had expended not less than $400 million on the projects, and recalled that President John Dramani Mahama had pointed out that, “if they had rolled out the projects in phases, that amount could have completed not less than 22 of hospitals.”
The minister again noted that: “We have expended $400 million. We don’t have a single one of these projects in operation. Basically, we have visited about two others and the Bokro project is another one commissioned on the December 5, 2024. We owe only one of the Contractor $3 million.”
Additionally, he outlined certain departments (facilities), including laboratories and theaters that had not been completed, and argued that, “you cannot commission a project like a hospital without equipment being installed.”
Mr Akandoh said because the Agenda 111 projects were quite ambitious, “any government will first and foremost think about the source of funding for such projects.”
Moreover, he mentioned that “Once you are leaving behind the uncompleted projects, you leave money for the completion. We don’t have a pesewa as I speak to finish this project, because there was no reliable and dedicated source of funding.”
The minister indicated that President John Mahama had instructed the Ministry of Health to think outside the box, assess all the agenda 111 projects and give him (President) a blueprint as the way forward, and also ensure “we put these facilities to good use to benefit the good people of this country.”
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, BOKRO
