Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako says President Nana Akufo-Addo cannot construct eighty-eight (88) district and six (6) Regional hospitals in a year.
President Akufo-Addo made a promise to construct ninety-four hospitals within one year commencing in 2020 noting this has been necessitated by the COVID-19 epidemic which has exposed Ghana's healthcare system.
''There are eighty-eight (88) districts in our country without district hospitals; we have six (6) new regions without regional hospitals; we do not have 5 infectious disease control centres dotted across the country, and we do not have enough testing and isolation centres for diseases like COVD-19. We must do something urgently about this'', the President indicated in his 8th nation address on COVID-19.
As a result, the government ''has decided to undertake a major investment in our healthcare infrastructure, the largest in our history. We will, this year, begin constructing eighty-eight (88) hospitals in the districts without hospitals. It will mean ten (10) in Ashanti, nine (9) in Volta, nine (9) in Central, eight (8) in Eastern, seven (7) in Greater Accra, seven (7) in Upper East, five (5) in Northern, five (5) in Oti, five (5) in Upper West, five (5) in Bono, four (4) in Western North, four (4) in Western, three (3) in Ahafo, three (3) in Savannah, two (2) in Bono East, and two (2) in North East Regions. Each of them will be a quality, standard-design, one hundred bed hospital, with accommodation for doctors, nurses and other health workers, and the intention is to complete them within a year. We have also put in place plans for the construction of six (6) new regional hospitals in the six (6) new regions, and the rehabilitation of the EffiaNkwanta Hospital, in Sekondi, which is the regional hospital of the Western Region. We are going to beef up our existing laboratories and establish new ones across every region for testing. We will establish three (3) infectious disease control centres for each of the zones of our country, i.e. Coastal, Middle Belt and Northern, with the overall objective of setting up a Ghana Centre for Disease Control'', the President underscored.
Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' on Wednesday, Kweku Baako noted that though setting up the hospitals is feasible, he thinks it is an "overambitious" project and so believes it will take more than a year for the President's promise to become a reality.
"I think it's a bit ambitious. You might even say it's overly ambitious but I haven't said it is mission impossible. But I think it's very ambitious; it will be difficult . . . In my candid opinion, by 12 months, I am not too sure that all would have completed. They would have started all but may not be able to complete it all. I'm a realist," Mr. Baako stated emphatically.
Listen to him in the video below
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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I don't think the President said the hospitals will be constructed in one year. What I heard him say is that they will start construction in this year. The two scenarios are not the same. Whether he will be able to deliver the promise or not is another matter but he did not promise to complete all in a year..
Another person who is growing but make little since to me this days, when is about AKUFO Addo fine but even when Mr mahama built schools and hospitals he was doubting them but someone has 8 months to leave office he promised 88 hospitals and dis old jurnalist says yes it can be done Mr baako is fake and I just want him to know that the likes of them are no longer relevant in de political dynamics of this country anymore peroid
Massa whether you agree that , this government is tricking the people of Ghana or not I am not going believe anymore . Moreover I also blame this news portal for being unfair and discrimately towards Sammy gyamfi . Because I do the listening on Kwame Safa Kayi's show yesterday .
I am sure a lot of floating voters like me will definitely vote against the NPP and Nana Addo cause we are very disappointed with the abysmal performance. Really substandard. Too many fraudulent deals under this administration. The recent UNIPASS SCANDAL is the last straw and it is disgusting.