Founder of Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has stated that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will be remembered for making sure that every community has access to good healthcare with the launch of the Agenda 111 hospitals project.
The Akufo-Addo presidency, he said, is already noted for making sure every child has access to education with the introduction of the Free Senior High Secondary education; fixing infrastructure including ICT rail and road networks nationally under limited tax revenues.
Gabby posted on his Twitter page after the President witnessed the brick-laying for commencement of work on the hospitals: “#Agenda111 the Akufo-Addo presidency will be noted for the FF: making sure every child has access to education; fixing infrastructure including ICT, rail and road networks nationally under limited tax revenues; and now making sure that every community has access to good healthcare.
President Akufo-Addo has assured that the successful completion of the 111 hospitals will ensure 101 outstanding districts will be provided with modern health facilities.
The newly created regions, he said, will also be provided with six Regional Hospitals and an extra hospital for the Western Region while two mental hospitals will be built in the middle and southern belts.
The Accra Psychiatric Hospital, he stated, will be redeveloped
The President gave the pledge at the commencement of the Agenda 111 Project, which involves the construction of 111 hospitals as part of measures to address the deficit in the health system.
President Akufo-Addo during his 8th address to the nation on the Covid-19 in April last year announced the government’s resolve to embark on the construction of this massive health infrastructure.
Explaining the rationale behind the construction of the hospitals, the President noted that an audit of the country’s health system indicated that 101 districts in the country had no district hospitals.
This, coupled with the creation of the six new regions, meant government had to embark on this project to provide underserved areas of the country with health facilities of their own.
President said, “The goal is thus, to position Ghana as an attractive medical destination, with excellent medical facilities, for our neighbors to patronize and at the same time greatly improve Ghana’s health system.”
“The 111 hospitals will lead to Ghana becoming a center for Medical Excellence and a destination for medical tourism in the West African sub-region by 2030.”
According to him, each hospital is being constructed at a cost of $16.88 million; $12.88 million for construction and $4 million for medical equipment and noted that all the hospitals are to be completed in 18 months with work commencing on the regional and specialized hospitals in the latter part of the year.
The President stated that these modern, fully equipped state-of-the-art hospitals will have facilities for outpatient services, including consultation facilities for medical and surgical cases, ophthalmology and dental services, a physiotherapy unit, maternal and child health unit, public health unit, four state-of-the-art surgical theatres for maternity, obstetrics, and gynecology, accidental and emergency, and for general surgery and imaging facilities.
The hospitals, he said, when completed will provide some 20,000 direct jobs for health professionals and many indirect jobs for residents in the local economy such as food vendors, sellers of hospital consumables, and many others.
Source: MyPublisher24.com
