President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has charged managers of the newly commissioned Ga East Municipal Hospital to maintain the facility and keep it in good shape.
The Ga East Municipal Hospital was part of uncompleted hospital projects captured in a joint petition presented to the government by Citi FM and Occupy Ghana in July 2018, demanding the operationalization of all newly built hospitals.
It is also part of the nine EUROGET hospitals project for Ghana which is part of the over US$ 1 billion investment the previous administration made in the health sector.
The President who was speaking at the opening of the facility reinforced the call to the administrators to embrace and strengthen the culture of maintenance.
“This edifice has been put at great cost to our nation, and we should be in the position, some ten years down the line, to see it still in good condition. It should not fall in the ways in which several institutions like this in Ghana have gone. The leadership of this facility must set an example for its periodic and constant maintenance.”
The “Ghana Hospital Project” involves the design, construction and equipping of one (1) Military Hospital, two (2) Regional Hospitals, and six (6) District Hospitals in Ghana, at a project cost of US$339 million, and will deliver eight hundred and ten (810) beds.
It falls under the broader objective of providing infrastructure for the delivery of effective healthcare to the citizenry.
The Ga-East hospital is fitted with modern medical equipment, and designed with several departments including an administration block, out-patient department (OPD), physiotherapy unit, pharmacy, a radiology unit, laboratory, surgical suite, emergency & casualty Unit, amongst others.
Improving healthcare access
President Akufo-Addo assured Ghanaians that his government is committed to improving access to essential and quality health services through the provision of the necessary health infrastructure, equipment and logistics, including the deployment of appropriate technology as part of our drive to attaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
He continued, “We are also leveraging the use of technology, with some of our healthcare facilities, before the end of the year, going paperless. We have deployed an electronic platform for logistics management information systems for the distribution of drug and non-drug commodities in the country.”
