The Presidential Advisor on Health to President Nana Akufo-Addo, Anthony Nsiah-Asare says the contractor for the La General Hospital project will move to site this week to commence the project.
According to him, all the bottlenecks holding up the project were cleared this week, paving way for the contractor to hit the ground running.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, he said, “all the various activities which are to happen have been concluded this week and I know that from what the technical people told us, the contractor has erected his office and within the next few days he will fully commence.”
The Minority in Parliament has criticized the government over delays in the construction of the La General Hospital.
The health facility was demolished in March 2020 for redevelopment due to the dilapidated nature of the structures.
Two years on, work is yet to commence on the site despite several assurances from the government.
During an inspection of the site by some members of the Minority in Parliament, it emerged that weeds had taken over portions of the land.
Speaking to journalists, the Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, attributed the delay in the construction to the misapplication of the over 60 Million Euro funds allocated for the project.
He asked the government to complete the abandoned project to prove to Ghanaians that funds meant for the construction had not been misapplied.
But Dr. Nsiah-Asare said the project will not be completed by the August 2022 deadline due to the delays, but the government will make efforts to ensure that they speed up the work.
“They cannot finish the hospital in August. The pressure will be put on them to work as quickly as possible to finish the work in record time.”
He said the hospital, when completed, will provide much more health services to the people of La and surrounding communities.
The project is being financed by a credit facility a from Standard Chartered Bank of the United Kingdom, with an export credit guarantee from Sinosure of the People’s Republic of China, to the tune of €68 million with an insurance cover of €3,860,349.18.
The project will be undertaken by a Chinese company, Poly Changda.
Upon completion, it will be transformed into a 160-bed facility and will be fitted with an outpatient department; inpatient wards; maternity and neonatal services; surgical unit with four theatres; accident and emergency department; public health department; pharmacy unit; laboratory; administration; imaging area, with CT Scan, X-ray room, ultrasound, fluoroscopy, mammography units; physiotherapy unit; and a mortuary.
The facility, which was formerly known as the La Polyclinic, was established in the early 1960s.
It mainly served residents of La, Osu, Teshie, Nungua and its surrounding areas with their healthcare needs.