President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has inaugurated a 100-bed hospital in the Ga-East District of the Greater Accra Region to serve residents in Ashongman, Dome, Haatso, Kwabenya, Madina, and surrounding communities.
The district hospital was inaugurated yesterday as the second health facility to be inaugurated under the ‘Ghana Hospital Project,’ since the opening of the Upper West Regional Hospital in Wa on August 18.
The project, initiated by the government in 2008, is being executed by EUROGET De-Invest S.A of Egypt. The Egyptian firm is expected to complete similar health facilities in Tepa, Twifo Praso, Konongo, Salaga, Nsawkaw and Kumasi Sewua.
Speaking at a ceremony to officially open the facility, President Akufo-Addo said the Ghana Hospital Project involved the design, construction and equipping of one military hospital, two regional hospitals, and six district hospitals in Ghana at a project cost of US$339 million.
Together, the project would deliver 810 beds and falls under the broader objective of providing infrastructure for the delivery of effective healthcare to the citizenry, said the President.
The Ga-East Hospital is fitted with modern medical equipment, and designed with several departments including an administration block, out-patient department (OPD), physiotherapy unit, pharmacy, radiology unit, laboratory, surgical suite, emergency and casualty unit, amongst others.
“This edifice has been put up at great cost to our nation, and we should be in the position, some 10 years down the line, to see it still in good condition. It should not fall in the ways in which several institutions like this in Ghana have gone. The leadership of this facility must set the example for its periodic and constant maintenance,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo gave the assurance to improve access to quality healthcare through the provision of the necessary health infrastructure, equipment and logistics, including the deployment of appropriate technology to achieve a Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
On the National Health Insurance Scheme, he said the government had cleared the GH¢1.2 billion arrears it inherited from the previous government and had brought the operations of the NHIS back to life.
Also, he said the government was procuring one ambulance each for the 275 constituencies and added that the first batch of nine ambulances had arrived, with the rest expected by the end of December.
“We are delivering essential medical health products through the use of drones, and, just within the past five months of its operations, I am told over 1,000 flights have been made from the first site in Omenako, with more than 5,000 products delivered,” President Akufo-Addo said.
BY YAW KYEI
