Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has revealed that land litigations in Accra and Kumasi, are affecting the Agenda 111 project.
His claim brings the number to two excuses that the government has churned out over its inability to construct the project.
The project, which was commissioned in August, 2021, and was scheduled to be completed in 18 months, but in March this year, President Nana Akufo-Addo, admitted that the initial timeline government gave for the completion of the hospitals under the Agenda 111 initiative was overly ambitious.
Delivering the 2022 State of the Nation Address (SONA), the President, explained that many unforeseen difficulties caused delays in the construction processes.
Mr Agyeman-Manu, had stated that, despite the difficulties, the government was working hard to ensure that these challenges are addressed to enable the project to move on smoothly.
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“It is too early for me to predict whether we will finish or not. But optimistically, that is what we want to do and we try to push ourselves.
“We still have challenges with even land especially in the big cities like Accra and Kumasi. We are now changing the infrastructural design so that instead of spreading across a bigger land area we want to go up. So they are doing designs.
“Even in the communities, in the districts, some chiefs are coming and there are litigations in some areas,” the Dormaa Central Member of Parliament said while taking delivery of some medical supplies from the Italian government on Thursday May 5.
During the SONA, the President said that a greater part of preparatory work has been completed, with 87 projects currently under construction, adding that the projects will be completed for commissioning before his tenure ends.
“I have to report that, like all major construction projects, it is evident that the initial schedule we gave for the completion of the Agenda 111 was overly ambitious. Identifying suitable sites around the country, for example, has turned out to be even more problematic than had been anticipated.
“I am able to say that a great deal of the preparatory work has now been completed, and work has started at 87 of the 111 sites. I have been assured that preliminary work on the remaining 24 sites is ongoing. We have every intention of seeing this project through to a successful end, which will enable me to commission all one hundred and eleven 111 hospitals before I leave office on 7th January, 2025,” he said.
“I am able to say that a great deal of the preparatory work has now been completed, and work has started at 87 of the 111 sites. I have been assured that preliminary work on the remaining 24 sites is ongoing. We have every intention of seeing this project through to a successful end, which will enable me to commission all one hundred and eleven 111 hospitals before I leave office on 7th January, 2025,” he said.
“It is an ambitious project, which must and will be done, and which will create some 33,900 jobs for construction workers and, on completion, some 34,300 jobs for health workers,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo on Tuesday August 17 201 commissioned the Agenda 111 project which will ensure the construction of 111 hospitals across the country. During the commission of the project in Trede in the Ashanti Region, the President said among other things that the project will be providing 20,000 jobs for health professionals when completed.
He said the Ministry of Health is going to recruit more doctors, nurses and pharmacists when the project is done, adding that more indirect jobs are also going to be created by the project implementation.
The president further indicated that the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed years of under investment in Ghana’s health sector. To that end, he said his administration is improving on the investment in the health sector of the economy.
He said “I am glad that the biggest ever investment in the nation’s healthcare is being made .We have met this morning because of the ravages of Covid 19 which has affected every country on the planet . For us in Ghana not only has the pandemic disrupted our daily lives, but it has also exposed the deficiencies with our healthcare system because of the years of under investment and neglect.
The project will cover the design, procurement, construction, equipping and commissioning of 101 District Hospitals, 6 Regional Hospitals in newly created regions, and 1 Regional Hospital in the Western Region, 2 Psychiatric Hospitals in Kumasi and Tamale, a redeveloped Accra Psychiatric Hospital.
The project is to ensure that Ghanaians nationwide have access to quality healthcare services and with the National Health Insurance Scheme, boost the provision of healthcare infrastructure and financial accessibility to healthcare. Doctors, nurses and other health personnel will have accommodation in the hospitals to be constructed.
According to the Agenda 111 detailed document, the facilities that will be enjoyed by Ghanaians include four state-of-the-art surgical theatres for maternity, obstetrics and gynaecology, a full complement of male, female, pediatric and isolation wards, among others.
According to the government, on completion, the venture will be “the biggest investment in healthcare infrastructure in the country since independence.”
