H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Writes

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On Saturday, 30th September 2023, I commissioned the St. Michael’s Specialist Hospital, an impressive piece of healthcare infrastructure constructed through the efforts and ingenuity of one man, Mr. Michael Banahene. I congratulate Mr. Banahene warmly on this brilliant initiative. His life’s story should encourage other Ghanaians not to give up or throw their hands up in despair, but, rather, to work hard to realise their dreams, and, thereby, contribute to the growth and development of our nation.

It is said, in this oft-cited statement, that “the first wealth is health.” Since 2017, my government has shown commitment to improving the delivery of quality healthcare to all Ghanaians through the restoration of the nursing trainee allowances, the recruitment of the highest number of healthcare workers in the history of the 4th Republic, with fifty-eight thousand and forty-one (58,041) health workers employed to supplement the existing health sector workforce at the height of COVID-19.

The Ghana Ambulance Service has been equipped with three hundred and seven (307) ambulances, that is 1-Constituency-1-Ambulance, in comparison to the fifty-five (55) ‘semi-functioning’ ambulances that existed during the time of the Mahama government. We have made improvements in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to make access easier, and we are using drones to deliver emergency medical supplies to remote areas.

Under Agenda 111, the construction of eighty-six (86) district hospitals, two (2) regional psychiatric hospitals and the western regional hospital are ongoing, which are all at various levels of completion. The average completion rate of the eighty-nine (89) ongoing projects is fifty-two percent (52%), with work at some of the sites being seventy to eighty percent complete. It is worthy to note that the constructions of these hospitals are being undertaken by indigenous Ghanaian contractors, who have provided direct and indirect jobs to Ghanaians.

There is an average number of one hundred and twenty (120) workers on each construction site, and, when completed, an average of five hundred and forty-nine (549) persons will be employed in a district hospital, one thousand, three hundred and forty-three (1,343) in a regional hospital, and nine hundred and forty-seven (947) in each psychiatric hospital. This means that sixty-seven thousand, six hundred and thirty-five (67,635) people will be employed in the Agenda 111 hospitals.