President Nana Akufo-Addo has stated that before leaving office, he will complete all 111 hospital projects that he has started.
“A great deal of the preparatory work for the execution of this ambitious project has been completed,” the President said on the 60th anniversary of the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS) on Friday, March 25, 2022. “It is my determination that the entire project will be completed before I leave office on January 6, 2025.”
According to the president, the $1.765 billion initiative will build 101 conventional 100-bed district hospitals with housing for nurses and doctors in districts, as well as six new regional hospitals for the new regions he formed.
In addition, the Effia Nkwanta Hospital in the Western area will be renovated, and one new regional hospital and three psychiatric institutions will be built in each of the country’s three zones.
Ghana would become a “hub of medical excellence and a favored destination for medical tourism in West Africa” once the project is done, according to the President.
“The administration looks forward to also improving its certification seals for hospitals in the country and maybe acquiring foreign accreditation seals such as Joint Commission International,” the President said.
Mr. Akufo-Addo also criticized doctors’ refusal to work in impoverished communities.
“The fact that doctors are refusing to work in certain locations is upsetting. I encourage all medical professionals to follow in the footsteps of your forefathers, who eagerly took posts in the early years, when the national infrastructure was even worse than it is now.”
“As a result, I am pleading with you to accept postings to certified regional and district hospitals, where your skills are most required,” he implored.
Despite the fact that “our medical schools have a good reputation and have been training good doctors and dentists who find work with ease in all parts of the world, the doctor-dentist population ratio in our country still remains unsatisfactory after 65 years of nationhood,” President Akufo-Addo admitted that the country’s doctor-dentist population ratio remains poor.
“Right now, we don’t have enough doctors, dentists, and healthcare workers with the right niche of skills and knowledge in our regions, districts, and underprivileged communities, especially in the newly-created regions and districts,” he said.
