President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has cut sod for the commencement of the construction of the Nkoranza District Hospital in the Bono East Region.
As part of his visit to the Bono East Region, the president at the sod cutting ceremony said that, the construction of the hospital upon completion, will contribute to addressing the persistent challenges of high maternal and child health morbidity and mortality in Ghana adding that, it will also accelerate our progress towards the achievement of the SDGs through enhanced access to quality maternal and child health services.
He also stated that the project once completed will complement the services of the mission hospital which is currently serving Nkoranza and its environs and also ease considerably the pressure on the Holy Family hospital at Techiman which is currently serving as the regional hospital in the Bono East Region.
“Government will continue to sustain the agenda of building a robust, resilient and sustainable health care system for current and future generations and hence the project of agenda 111, where we are going to be providing all districts without hospitals a one hundred bed hospital, and in Bono East, it will be Nkoranza North, Techiman, Sene East and Pru East.”
He then told the gathering that, through an ASHRA facility, with an ASHRA insurance premium of €20,339,000, an amount of €140 million has been secured for the construction of the Nkoranza District Hospital.
The €140 million will also be used for the construction of a 400-bed secondary level Hospital at Tema, an Accident and Emergency Department, and a ward at Dormaa Hospital; and for the reconstruction of the Central Medical Stores that got burnt in January 2015.
President Akufo-Addo was expectant that the Ghana Health Service, which will be managing this ultra-modern health facility, will put in place measures to attract the requisite specialised health staff to come and work in the Region.
He said,
“Buildings and Medical Equipment alone do not deliver good healthcare, it is the people in charge who deliver the healthcare.”
The President also urged all partners with a stake in the construction of the project to work assiduously, and ensure that the project is delivered on time and on budget, and for the contractor to employ indigenes during the construction period.
The construction of the Nkoranza Hospital is been undertaken by the Israeli company, Engineering Development Construction (EDC). Speaking at the ceremony, a representative for EDC said, the construction of the medical facility will solve the challenges of providing efficient healthcare facilities to meet the developing needs of Ghana.
He affirmed their commitment to making the project become fully functional.
The Chief of Nkoranza, Nana Kyei Baffour, thanked the president and also appealed for the construction of a nursing training college after the completion of the hospital. He also lamented over the poor state of road stretch from Nkoranza to Kintampo and appealed to government to help in the completion of the road as well as the SHS in Donkronkwanta.
The Nkoranza District Hospital will be fitted with an outpatient department, including pharmacy and consulting rooms, public health department, medical administration, 100 beds in total for in-patient wards, 30 beds for other interventions requiring temporary stay, emergency department, obstetrics and gynaecology clinics, three operation theatres for general and specialised surgery, laboratory, blood bank and an imaging department for diagnostics, staff housing; and mortuary.
