The Member of Parliament (MP) for Effiduase-Asokore, Dr Nana Ayew Afriye, has said that there is no way the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government will complete all the 111 health facilities under the Agenda 111 project before their exit from office.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Monday, December 5, the MP urged Ghanaians not to politicise the project but see it as a legacy that will help bring the needed improvement to Ghana’s health delivery system.
He added that the most important thing is that, majority of health facilities under the project have started and at least a couple of them will be completed before 2025 for the next government to continue.
“Frankly speaking, I will not say that all the 111 (health facilities including) 7 regional hospitals and two psychiatric hospitals could be finished in 2024. It does not make sense.
“However, it makes sense to say that 89 of them have started (and) if in two years, 20 of them are completed it is a legacy. If the NPP inherits itself, as it would, then it will see to the day we have all these hospitals.
“If government goes to any other regime so, be it… it (Agenda 111) is a legacy. Ridge Hospital started under the NDC, phase two is being enhanced under the NPP. This is continuity as far as the health sector is concerned and therefore let us not politicise Agenda 111… it is a legacy and no regime can finish this within 4 years, it will not make sense,” he said.
The Agenda 111 project includes the construction of 101 district hospitals, six regional hospitals in the newly created regions, two specialised hospitals as well as a regional hospital in the Western Region and the renovation of the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital.
It can be recalled that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at the beginning of his second term as president, promised that all the projects under Agenda 111 will be completed in 18 months.
However, speaking at the 2022 State of the Nation Address, the president admitted that the initial plan by his government to construct a total of 111 health facilities across the country was overly ambitious.
He explained that the construction of the projects has been faced with unforeseen challenges that slowed the process of getting the projects underway.
President Akufo-Addo however said that the hurdles on most of those sites have been resolved and work has so far begun on 87 of those hospital projects across the country. He also added that all the projects will be completed before he leaves office.
Watch the MP’s remarks below:
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MP for Effiduase-Asokore, Dr Nana Ayew Afriye