The Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has attributed the delay in the operationalisation of the 120-bed Children’s Specialist Hospital at Weija to the contractor’s failure to hand over the facility, insisting that the Ministry is ready to begin operations once outstanding issues are resolved.
Addressing Parliament on Wednesday, July 8, Akandoh said the project has not yet been officially handed over to the Ministry because critical works, including the installation of some medical equipment, remain incomplete despite the availability of a full complement of staff for the hospital.
He explained that the World Bank-funded project encountered procurement-related challenges during construction, which contributed to delays in its completion.
“Mr. Speaker, I inherited the project. It’s a World Bank-funded project, and in the course of the construction, the World Bank raised issues of what we call misprocurement, and so we had to deal with the issues of misprocurement,” he told Parliament.
The Minister disclosed that the Ministry has repeatedly engaged the contractor to resolve the outstanding issues and is expected to hold another meeting on July 10 after the contractor requested to be present in person.
“The last meeting will take place on the 10th of this month. The contractor is not in the country at the moment, and it was his request to be available personally for us to conclude the outstanding matters,” he said.
Akandoh rejected suggestions that government was deliberately delaying the commissioning of the facility, stressing that inspections by the Ghana Health Service revealed that parts of the project remain unfinished.
He assured Parliament that the Ministry has already recruited the required personnel and could begin operations almost immediately after the project is formally handed over.
“I can assure you that if the project is handed over this morning, within the next 24 hours, we don’t even need any fanfare. We will commission the project because we have the full complement of staff for that particular facility,” Mr. Akandoh added.
The Minister’s remarks come two months after the Ministry of Health’s spokesperson, Tony Goodman, announced that the Children’s Specialist Hospital would become operational within two to three weeks.
The assurance followed growing public pressure from residents of Weija-Gbawe, who staged a demonstration in May demanding the immediate opening of the fully furnished 120-bed paediatric hospital, which is expected to improve specialist healthcare services for children and reduce congestion at existing health facilities.
