President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on has cut the sod for the construction of a new 70 million euros phase one of a new modern regional hospital for Koforidua.
The first phase which is expected to complete in 36 months would see the construction of a new 285-bed capacity hospital with the capacity to expand to a 600 bed hospital.
Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony at Koforidua in the Eastern Region, President Akuffo- Addo said the funding of the project was fully secured from Standard charted Bank of UK with guarantee from UK Export Finance.
The President charged the contractors of the project to ensure that the project was completed on schedule and within the budgetary allocation.
He explained that, the project was in fulfillment of his pledge in 2017 after touring the region and promised to work towards the fulfillment of the gaps in the healthcare delivery service in the region.
The President announced that, work would soon start on the construction of 100-bed capacity hospital for each of the 101 districts that had no district hospitals and regional hospitals for six regions that had no regional hospitals.
Nana Akufo- Addo said government would rehabilitate and upgrade health facilities in the county to provide quality healthcare to all Ghanaians irrespective of where they were found.
He said the improvement of health care delivery in the country was also aimed at developing the country to become a destination for health tourism in the sub-region.
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The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu said a lot of hospitals and health facilities were under rehabilitation, retooling and reconstruction to improve healthcare delivery in the country in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He explained that, the list of health facilities mentioned were not part of the 88 new hospitals that the President promised the people of Ghana this year.
The Member of Parliament for New Juaben North and Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Nana Adjei Boateng said the chiefs and people of Eastern Region were grateful to the President for the new regional hospitals.
He said proposal for the construction of the new regional hospital in the Eastern Region was contained in the 2014 budget, but nothing happened.
Earlier in a welcoming address, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Eric Kwakye Darfour gave the assurance that the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council would monitor the project and ensure that the contractor completed the project on schedule.
GNA
