13 districts yet to offer lands for construction of 88 hospitals – Agyeman-Manu

Health Minister-designate, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has disclosed that about 13 districts are yet to offer government lands for the construction of district hospitals across the country.

This, he said had largely contributed to delays in the construction of these hospitals.

That was the President’s vision [construction of hospitals] which was supposed to have been translated into action. He set up a committee at the presidency led by the Chief of Staff. I was a member. We pulled one or two infrastructure from our ministry. There was a representation from the Ghana Health Service too.

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What they asked us to do immediately was to write to all the district directors for health services to allocate land and give us the site plans of where they want these district hospitals to be sited. As I speak we still have close to about 13 districts that have not completed this exercise,” Mr. Agyeman-Manu said.

In 2020, President Nana Akufo-Addo had announced the construction of hospitals in some 88 districts across the country to augment government’s efforts at containing COVID-19.

“There are 88 districts in our country without district hospitals; we have six (6) new regions without regional hospitals; we do not have five 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. That is why the Government has decided to undertake a major investment in our healthcare infrastructure, the largest in our history. We will, this year, begin constructing 88 hospitals in the districts without hospitals,” the President had said.

The construction of these hospitals has however not begun as promised by the President.

The Health Minister-designate during his vetting by the Appointments Committee in Parliament today, Wednesday, February 10, 2021, said the government is working assiduously to ensure that the construction begins this year.

About Kwaku Agyeman-Manu

Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, who is the Member of Parliament for Dormaa Central constituency in the Bono East Region served in the same portfolio during Akufo-Addo’s first term.

Aged 65, Agyeman-Manu is a product of the University of Ghana where he had his Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics and Statistics. He also attended the London School of Accountancy where he chartered as a management accountant.

He served as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Interior, Finance, Roads and Transport, Transport and Communication and also served briefly as the Ag. Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority.

He was elected an MP for Dormaa Central Constituency in 2008.

Prior to taking up the position of a Deputy Minister in Former President Kufour’s administration, he was the Director of Finance for Toyota Ghana Co. Ltd.

Source: CNR