Govt spends $40m to complete 6 district hospitals
The government will spend $40 million to complete six district hospitals that were started in 2014. This came to light in Fomena in the Adansi District in the Ashanti Region yesterday when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo inspected reactivated work on the 120-bed Fomena District Hospital, one of the six hospitals being financed through a loan from the UK Export Fund.
The inspection was part of the President’s four-day tour of the Ashanti Region.
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The six hospitals, which are being constructed by the British design, procure, build and equip firm, NMS Infrastructure Limited, are located in the Sekondi-Takoradi municipality, Abetifi, Garu, Kumawu, Fomena and Dodowa.
President Akufo-Addo charged the contractor, which is partnering a Ghanaian company, Soland 1 Limited, to finish the project on time.
He also inaugurated a 450-capacity boys' dormitory for the Fomena TI Ahmadiyya Senior High School.
Background
With the exception of the Dodowa Hospital, which has been inaugurated, the rest, which are at various stages of completion, were halted for audit when government changed in 2016.
The five remaining 120-bed projects, in addition to a multi-storey staff accommodation at the Takoradi-European Hospital, are expected to cost about $175 million.
The Fomena project, which was started in 2014 by the previous government, is expected to be ready by March next year.
The facility, which is 80 per cent complete, has a Traditional Medicine Unit to meet the needs of patients with preference for herbal treatment.
It also has a Parental Ward solely for the aged, with trained health professionals to cater for their needs.
Contractual issues
The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, said the delay in the completion of the project was caused by contractual issues and financial audit, which had led to the re-awarding of the contract.
He thanked the government for the release of funds for the completion of the delayed project.
We’ll deliver
The Group Chairman of NMSI, Mr Frederick Hsu, promised to finish the project on time to give the people of Adansi a new lease of life.
He assured the President of his company's commitment to use resources judiciously to achieve value for money.
Durbar
Later at a durbar in Fomena, President Akufo-Addo assured the chiefs and the people of Adansi that they would benefit massively from the One million dollar per constituency policy in his next administration.
He said Adansiman stood a good chance of getting government appointees to work with the chiefs to trigger development.
He, however, expressed disappointment in the incumbent Member of Parliament for the area, Mr Andrew Amoako Asiamah, who got elected on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) but was now contesting as an independent candidate, for ignoring his advice not to contest the party's choice, Mr Philip Ofori Asante.
The President said for Mr Asiamah to ignore his advice, as well as that of the Adansihene, was a demonstration of his unpreparedness to work with the two of them and, therefore, urged the electorate not to vote for Mr Asiamah.
Consult chiefs
The Adansihene, Opegyakotwere Bonsra Afriyie II, appealed to the President to engage chiefs in the traditional area to have a say in who became the district chief executive (DCE) because the current appointee had not projected the government well.
He said the current DCE and other government officials in the Adansi area had been disappointing and had nothing to show.
He said instead of imposing a DCE on the people, the government should consult the chiefs for relevant inputs to get the right people to serve.
Opegyakotwere Afriyie implored the President to ensure that his campaign promise to get DCEs elected was actualised.
He called for legislation to compel successive governments to add a specific number of kilometres to the country's road network before leaving office.
Roads
The Minister of Roads, Mr Kwesi Amoako-Atta, said the Adansi District was benefitting from 12 major road projects, totalling 102 kilometres.