Construction of Abetifi hospital to resume - Regional Minister assures

Work is to resume on the Abetifi Government Hospital project which has been abandoned for the past four years.

This follows consideration of the budgetary allocation by Parliament.

The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Seth Acheampong, gave an assurance for the continuation when he called on the Paramount Chief of Kwahu, Nana Daasebre Akuamoah Agyapong II, at his palace at Kwahu-Bene in the Kwahu East District last Tuesday.

Mr Acheampong explained that the revival of the project was further proof of the government’s determination to provide infrastructure to help improve health care delivery in the country.

He said the hospital was one of the topmost priority projects the government wanted to complete soon to enhance health care delivery in the Kwahu region.

Development initiatives

The Regional Minister, also a native of Kwahu, gave the assurance that the government was determined to initiate programmes and interventions that would inure to the benefit of the people and encouraged them to lend support to such interventions for their successful implementation.

He indicated that the main Kwahu Bepong-Ntomem road would soon be constructed to improve the road infrastructure in the traditional area.

Mr Acheampong said the project, which will cover 27 kilometres, would see the road asphalted for the first time and it would bring relief to farmers who struggle to transport their food crops to major towns, especially during the rainy season.

Unity

Nana Agyapong II welcomed the regional minister and his entourage to the palace and encouraged him to forge a united front with the municipal and district chief executives in the region as well as other stakeholders to enable him to accomplish the task assigned him.

The paramount chief urged Mr Acheampong not turn his back on Kwahuman but make sure they received their share of the national cake and on time.

He lamented that “Kwahuman has nothing to show even though the Eastern Regional ministerial position is always assigned to their natives.”

The Krontihene of Kwahu-Bene, Nana Simpeh-Wuradu III, welcomed the news that the Abetifi Government Hospital project would be revived.

He said it was irrelevant to know which administration started the project because as citizens of Kwahuman, their main interest was to have the facility completed and put in operation.

Abetifi hospital

The 120-bed capacity abandoned Abetifi Government Hospital project was begun in February 2015 by the President John Mahama administration but came to a standstill in October 2016.

It sparked many allegations of cost inflation and corruption when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo took over power in 2017 and has since been untouched.

The project, which is 35 per cent complete, was part of a number of health facilities funded by the UK government at a cost of US$ 175 million, with one being the inaugurated Dodowa Government Hospital in the Greater Accra Region.

The hospital has “two operating theatres, theatre recovery units, ICU male and female surgical ward, male and female medical ward, accident and emergency, gynaecology, pediatric ward, obstetrics and a public health unit”.

Other facilities include a dental unit, pharmacy, dispensary, blood bank, laboratory, consulting rooms, accommodation for care staff, records office, waiting area, and reception.