The Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund, an initiative set up to support the government to combat the novel coronavirus in the country says it has begun setting up a 100-bed infectious diseases isolation and treatment facility.
The project, dubbed the ‘Facility 100 Project’, will be used for the treatment of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases when completed.
The team expect the work to be completed in six weeks’ time.
The idea was mooted at a previous meeting after which they moved to settle on a design.
The engineers and architects have since Thursday, April 9, worked round the clock to get the design ready for take-off.
Work however officially begun after a groundbreaking ceremony took place on Friday, April 17 at the Ga East Municipal Hospital to launch the project.
Finance
The Managing Trustee of the Fund, Senyo Hosi, in an interview on citifm said that US$4 million will be used to complete the project.
“One of the key projects we’re now running is the Facility 100 Project which is aimed at putting together a 100-bed infectious disease isolation and treatment facility which doesn’t exist in the country. It is the best time that we would be having an infectious disease facility that will best equip us to fight COVID-19. And the beauty about it is that, it’s a project we are aiming to deliver in not more than six weeks, fully furnished. We have a cost target of US$8.5 million and a worst-case variation of an extra US$500,000.
With US$4 million, we should have a 100-bed world-class infectious disease facility,” he said.
He added, “The hospitals we currently have are not designed for infectious diseases so we keep finding all kinds of ways to adapt which still endangers patients and the caregivers. So this is actually designed with the infectious disease protocols well in place.”
