Health Ministry Has No Information On Promised Agenda 111 Health Facilities

It appears, the Akufo Addo administration will once more fail to fulfil its promise of building 111 health facilities across the country, as the Health Ministry says it has no information about the project.

The Accra-based JoyNews had made the request and was told by the Health Ministry that they had no records on the project.

According to JoyNews Research Desk, on February 11 in Pursuant to the RTI Act (2019), ACT 989, it wrote to the Health Ministry seeking; Copies of the policy or policies underpinning the project; Detailed project proposal including feasibility studies and funding sources secured; and List of all districts where projects will be sited.

It also asked for a detailed plan for commencement and completion of each of the projects and a detailed plan for staffing and operation of each of the hospitals.

“But the Ministry in a reply on Monday, March 21, said “Per our records, we do not have the information in our custody,” the media house reported.

The Agenda 111 project was launched by the government in February, to construct 101 outstanding district hospitals in addition to 10 selected regional and specialized hospitals.

This is after President Akufo Addo had made a similar promise in early 2020 where he claimed his government will build some 88 health facilities before the year ends. By the close of 2020, not a single block had been laid for any of the projects.

As part of the pomp around its launch of the latest grandiose promise for 111 health facilities after the earlier failure, the government said the project would take 18 months to complete from the commencement of each unit, with a funding of $100 million from the government through the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF).

Each of the hospitals will cost $16.88 million, with $12.88 million being used for the construction of the hospitals and $4 million for medical equipment.

However, after almost a year, there is no sign of any of the projects commencing.