President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured Ghanaians that the Agenda 111 project will promote development in every aspect of the Ghanaian economy and provide jobs for the youth.
Cutting the sod for the commencement of the Agenda 111 projects across the country at Trede in the Ashanti on Tuesday, August 17, 2021, he indicated that the project will involve the construction of (101) district hospitals, the construction of seven (7) Regional Hospitals for the new Regions, including a new one for the Western Region, the rehabilitation of the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in the Western Region and the construction of two (2) new psychiatric hospitals for the Middle Belt and Northern Belt, respectively.
The president said the COVID-19 pandemic did not only disrupt lives and livelihoods but also exposed the deficiencies of the nation’s healthcare system, resulting from years of under-investment and neglect.
The President described Agenda 111 as a “Ghana First” agenda, which has been carefully thought through to inspire activity and growth in various sectors of the economy.
“The following facts will help make the point; a consortium comprising some 20 Ghanaian consulting firms made up of architects, civil structural, electrical and mechanical engineers, quantity surveyors, biomedical engineers and other technical teams have designed these hospitals to reflect our unique domestic requirements including impacts of climate, social-cultural conditions and traditional practices. They will also supervise the construction of these hospitals and be maintained by domestic facility management professionals as part of government’s policy of developing domestic capability in the building and construction sectors of the economy.”
According to him these measures will help retain ‘most of the money’ in the country for further investments.
President Akufo Addo also revealed measures including investing more into the development of Ghana’s health care infrastructure, marking regional health facilities to specializations as well as upgrading selective facilities in regional and teaching hospitals into world-class standards as part of measures government will put in place to transform Ghana into a centre of excellence for medical care in West Africa by 2030.
The relevance of this he explained is reinforced by the fact that West Africa will have a population of half a billion people by 2030 hence “the goal is to position Ghana as an attractive medical destination with excellent medical facilities for our neighbours to patronize.”
Touching on the government’s continuous effort to help curb COVID-19 in the country, the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang Manu indicated that more treatment centres are being constructed to help provide medical treatments to COVID-19 patients.
Source: Rosemond Asmah/ATLFMNEWS
