First phase of Gt Accra Hospital ready March 2017
The first phase of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital at Ridge in Accra is expected to be fully operational by March, 2017, the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, has said.
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Installation of medical equipment will begin in May 2016 and be completed in November, with testing and training to be completed by March 2017.
All the civil works on the project will be completed by October, 2016. Currently, 65 per cent of the first phase of the project has been accomplished.
The Ridge Hospital project, being undertaken by Messrs Bouygues Batiment International (BBI), would help ease pressure on the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, as it would become the regional referral hospital.
Project outlay
The first phase of the project would be the completion of a 420-bed facility, a logistic building, a 42 accommodation facility for staff, a school of anaesthesia, a new mortuary and a new road network.
The second phase will make the total project a 620-bed facility, with an additional 42 staff housing units.
When the entire project is completed, the hospital will offer services such as surgery, radiology, pharmacy, maternal and paediatric care and accident emergency.
The rest will be ear, nose and throat, ophthalmology, dermatology, physiotherapy, dentistry, urology, cardiology, laboratory, anaesthesia and teaching.
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Other components of the project include an administration and support services comprising catering, stores, transport, laundry, maintenance, medical gas systems and a sewerage treatment plant.
Specialised services
Dr Bampoe, who was speaking in an interview, said, “The hospital will also offer highly specialised services such as cardiac cauterisation, in-vitro fertilisation and other services which will make the hospital to run a two-tier service that can generate income while not neglecting the provision of services to the general population.”
The Deputy Minister said the government was committed to ensuring that quality healthcare infrastructure was provided at all levels.
To that end, he said work on other regional health facilities in the Upper West and Upper East regions and the Kumasi Regional and Military hospitals were on course.
Reacting to comments from some quarters that the project was over-priced by $142 million, Dr Bampoe said all constitutional and statutory procedures, including approvals from the Cabinet, Parliament and the Public Procurement Authority had been strictly adhered to.
He explained that as part of the approval process, Crown Agents conducted a value-for-money audit for which an initial report suggested that savings of up to $142 million could be made, but after the contractor and the client explained why some costs had been suggested, and after negotiations by both parties, the final conclusion was that a total savings of $27 million could be realised.
Dr Bampoe said the savings would be ploughed back into adding more facilities to the project.
He said the project became relatively more expensive because it involved the rehabilitation of the old hospital building and the construction of a new facility within the Ridge Hospital which was still functioning.
Also, he said up to five different departments were being placed in a single building in a restricted area in the centre of a busy part of Accra.
These, Dr Bampoe said, had made the work more laborious and expensive.
Writer’s email-rebecca.quaicoe-duho@graphic.com.gh