President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that his government will, this year, begin constructing 88 district hospitals in districts without hospitals and six additional regional hospitals in the newly created hospitals.
“It will mean ten (10) in Ashanti, nine (9) in Volta, nine (9) in Central, eight (8) in Eastern, seven (7) in Greater Accra, seven (7) in Upper East, five (5) in Northern, five (5) in Oti, five (5) in Upper West, five (5) in Bono, four (4) in Western North, four (4) in Western, three (3) in Ahafo, three (3) in Savannah, two (2) in Bono East, and two (2) in North East Regions. Each of them will be a quality, standard-design, one hundred-bed hospital, with accommodation for doctors, nurses and other health workers, and the intention is to complete them within a year. We have also put in place plans for the construction of six (6) new regional hospitals in the six (6) new regions, and the rehabilitation of the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital, in Sekondi, which is the regional hospital of the Western Region,” the President said in a televised address to the nation on Sunday.
In his 8th update on Ghana’s enhanced response to the coronavirus pandemic, the President said the government is also going to “beef up our existing laboratories, and establish new ones across every region for testing”. He further disclosed that plans are in place to establish three infectious disease control centres for each of the zones of the country, i.e. Coastal, Middle Belt and Northern, with the overall objective of setting up a Ghana Centre for Disease Control.
CSM
The President added that the recent, tragic Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) outbreak, resulting in over 40 deaths, has reaffirmed the need for ready access to such infectious disease control centres, even though, in our time, nobody should die of the disease. He noted that early reporting is what is required, and implored everybody to heed this call.
“We shall make these investments in our healthcare system not because it is going to be easy, but because it is self-evidently necessary to serve the needs of 21st century Ghana. The three (3) Development Authorities, the Zongo Development Fund, and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies will be tasked to place health infrastructure amongst their highest priorities in the coming years. Soon, at the appropriate time, the exact volume of investment required will be duly and transparently laid out for public scrutiny and action,” he said.
