The Minister of Information Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has disclosed that the Government of Ghana (GoG), through the Ghana Investment Infrastructure Fund (GIIF), been able to secure USD 100 million to begin works on the ‘Agenda 111’ hospital project.
The Minister in a media briefing in Accra revealed that the start-up fund will be used for the construction of two (2) specialized hospitals and psychiatric hospitals. He further indicated that the specialised hospitals would serve people within the middle and northern belt of the country.
Furthermore, the government will commit to the redevelopment of the Accra Psychiatric hospital, as well as the development of some new six (6) regional hospitals. Regions such as the Western Region among others will benefit from the initiative, he opined.
He further disclosed that once the construction project commences on each hospital, completion is set for twelve (12) months.
The President of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo in his eighth (8th) address to the nation on the Covid-19 situation in April last year, announced the construction of some 88 hospitals across various districts in the country.
This disclosure by the President was received with so much scepticism by some stakeholders. But the Minister of Finance nullified the doubt that has been created by many.
The Minister of Information further affirmed that the eighty-eight (88) out of the one hundred and eleven (111) sites earmarked for the said project have been secured by the planning committee, which is chaired by Chief of Staff, Madam Akosua Frema Osei-Opare. Each project unit is expected to cost USD 17 million, he stated.
“There are those who have raised visibility doubts that ‘is it possible?’ So let me say a few things. First of all, for any grand project of this nature, one of the questions that come up is ‘is it possible?”
Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
“So it’s a fair question that is it possible? Because to build a hundred and eleven projects across the country has various issues you have to answer”.
Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
Furthermore, some of the technical issues raised by the Minister include but are not limited to funding, finding expert labour among others. Meanwhile, he disclosed that some issues have been resolved.
“One is the funding; the other even is finding the technical hands for each one of these projects; you need engineers, you need civil engineers, biomedical engineers.
Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
“Consultants, engineers, specialists from all over have been put together, they’re handling the various projects, and we expect that gradually whatever challenges come up are challenges that can be scaled.”
Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
“How many biomedical engineers do you have in Ghana? What projects are they working on already? How many of them can you find to supervise all of these ones? so it’s a humongous task nonetheless, and I think it is for those reasons that some may ask questions about feasibility that ‘is it possible?”
Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance called on all and sundry to embrace the can-do spirit, and not to stay in tuned with doubt, but rather challenge oneself to do daring things, take calculated risks to achieve the impossible.
“But you know that in all societies that are able to do daring things, they’ve started by challenging themselves that this is possible, and we can do. When Obama was shouting Yes, we can in America, we were all clapping here. They can, we, we can’t? No.
Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
“We’ve got to challenge ourselves to something daring. But we also need to approach it, not with a sense that it will fail; no, we have to approach it by whipping up the spirit of Ghanaian exceptionalism that listen; if we focus on this and we put all hands-on deck, we can get it done.”
Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
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