Former Minister of Health, Bernard Okoe Boye, says the Children’s Specialist Hospital at Weija was nearly complete when he left office, but could not be commissioned due to two key outstanding requirements.
He explained that the facility was about 94 to 95 per cent complete at the time.
According to him, the first challenge was a policy decision to avoid commissioning any health facility unless it had been fully operationalised.
“That hospital was about 94, 95% complete when I was leaving office. Only two things made it impossible for me to commission it,” he said.
He explained that operationalisation meant ensuring the facility was fully staffed and functional before official commissioning.
“We decided after first term that we will not commission a health facility unless we have operationalised it… operationalised means that we will put nurses in there, doctors in there and it is working,” he stated.
Okoe Boye said the delay in operationalisation was mainly due to the need to complete recruitment processes under the Ghana Health Service, including staff postings and allocations.
The second challenge, he noted, involved outstanding certification and payment processes linked to funding from the World Bank.
“Their certificates were being worked on, the payments from World Bank,” he said.
He added that administrative and financial processes were still ongoing at the time he left office, which affected the final stages of completion and commissioning.
His comments come amid renewed public attention on the Weija Gbawe Children’s Specialist Hospital, where the Ministry of Health has assured that steps are underway to operationalise the facility within the next two to three weeks.
The Ministry has attributed earlier delays to procurement and contractual issues, as well as concerns raised by funding partners regarding aspects of project costs and certification.
