Construction work on the 120-bed Fomena District Hospital in the Ashanti Region, has stalled for nearly two years due to lack of funds.
The Assembly says it is awaiting approval of funds from the Finance Ministry to complete the final stages of the project which started in 2015.
The District Chief Executive of Adansi North, Eric Kweku Kusi, told Citi News only five percent of work on the project remains outstanding.
After being in office for two years, he said, “we are praying that in no time the Ministry of Finance will give us the go-ahead to come back to site.”
He also spoke of the employment prospects that the hospital project will bring when it is fully operational.
“At the end of this project, about 500 youth will be employed here; so that is our main concern here; and we are praying that in no time [the approval will come].”
As it stands, oxygen plants have been installed, air conditioners and a morgue are ready for use in the hospital.
It also has children, maternity, male and female wards, a pharmacy, scans, OPD, in addition to 100-capacity staff bungalows that have been constructed.
The Lands and Natural Resources Minister who toured the project site, assured that he will draw the President’s attention to see to the completion of the facility.
The facility initiated by the Mahama administration in 2014 was meant to augment existing health facilities in the district and consequently increase access to quality healthcare.
It was a turnkey arrangement with Messrs NMS Infrastructure and Barclays Bank Plc, London at an estimated cost of US$175m.
The six district hospitals were supposed to be built in Dodowa, Sekondi, Kumawu, Abetifi, Fomena and Garu Tempane.
Out of the six, it is only the one at Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region that is fully functional after it was completed.
Citi FM, Occupy Ghana petition: Gov’t outlines plans to tackle health crisis
President Akufo-Addo in August 2017, issued a full response to the joint petition presented by Citi FM and Occupy Ghana demanding the operationalization of all newly built but abandoned healthcare facilities.
The response outlined the government’s plans to operationalize newly-built health facilities in the country as well as the strategy to improve healthcare.
According to the statement signed by the Acting Chief Director for the Ministry of Health, Kwabena Adjei Mensah, the government was undertaking ten projects that will see the construction of some 21 hospitals across the country.
Although a few of the facilties have been completed, several of them are still outstanding.
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By: Kojo Agyeman | citinewsroom.com | Ghana
