Sunyani Regional Hospital conversion scam — Asiedu Nketiah
The Chairman of the Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has described the conversion of the Sunyani Regional Hospital into a teaching hospital as a "scam" and "dubious".
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"If we may ask, how does one operate a teaching hospital without a medical school?
Where would that hospital draw medical students for the purpose of training them?
This clearly goes to expose the insincerity and deceitfulness," he said.
Mr Nketiah was speaking at a Press Conference in Sunyani in the Bono Region yesterday, to register the party's displeasure about the upgrading of the hospital to a teaching hospital without additional projects to meet a teaching hospital standard.
Budget made no provision
He said the 2024 Budget presented to Parliament by the Finance Minister, which was the last budget of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, made no provision whatsoever for a medical school or a teaching hospital in the Bono Region.
Mr Nketiah said again that Parliament had not considered nor passed any legislation backing the establishment of the Sunyani Teaching Hospital (STH).
He added that neither had Parliament considered nor approved any loan facility for these projects.
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"Where, then is the funding for this project going to come from?
For all intents and purposes, this is another deceitful sod-cutting exercise undertaken by President Akufo-Addo calculated to deceive the chiefs and good people of the Bono Region.
“We daresay that this is another big scam.
Having realised that another election is fast approaching, it is their usual trick of deceiving the people of Bono again," Mr Nketia said.
Upgrade
He said the NDC started the expansion of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) to include a medical school before the conversion of the hospital into a teaching hospital before they exited office in 2016.
“We established a Regional Hospital in the 1990s, a university subsequently, and we were in the process of establishing a medical school to complete this nexus before we left office in 2016,” he said.
Mr Nketiah said though the government later reinstated the plan to establish the medical school, no budget allocation had since been made towards its realisation.
He said it was a fact that the NDC was credited with the construction of three regional hospitals located in Cape Coast, Ho and Sunyani.
Mr Nketiah said the NDC also rolled out a policy to convert all the hospitals and the already existing Tamale Regional Hospital into teaching hospitals, after constructing medical schools and additional facilities.
Background
Last Saturday, the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo upgraded the hospital into a teaching hospital.
Soon after the conversion, the leadership of the NDC, including the Ranking Member for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, described the upgrading of the regional hospital to a teaching hospital as a hoax.
Writer’s email: biiya.ali@graphic.com.gh