Accra, Aug 3, GNA - The 37 Military Hospital, on Tuesday witnessed a ground-breaking ceremony to kick-start an expansion project, to make the facility a focal point of health delivery in the West African sub-region.

The project, which is to be executed in three phases, is expected to commence in three months time and completed within 72 months, at a total cost of 519 million dollars.

It has a grant element of 36.63 per cent from Euroget De-Invest S.A. of Egypt, a development partner of the Ministry of Defence.

The first phase of the project, consist of the design, construction and inauguration of a 500-bed hospital and 105 residential accommodation; consisting of 85 flats and 20 bungalows for the staff.

The second phase of the project would include the upgrading and rehabilitation of all the 14 medical reception stations of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) in the entire military garrison across the country to a 20-bed facility.

The third phase consists of the building and equipping of specialised centres including an Onchology Department with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and tumour surgery units, a Neuro-Surgery Centre and a Haemodialysis Centre.

Completion of the new hospital, which would blend with the old facility, is expected to introduce modern dynamics in health services.

President John Evans Atta Mills, in a speech read on his behalf at the sod-cutting ceremony at the hospital in Accra, said the project was one of government's efforts at ensuring that the Military Hospital was able to deliver better services to Ghanaians and the international community.

He said government, by the effort, was expected to increase access to medical care to improve quality of life, and sustain a viable workforce to form the basis for future development.

President Mills said that government was aware of the infrastructural deficits and challenges of the hospital.

It was taking steps to address these issues and instituting attractive incentives for staff of the hospital to enable it to attract and retain adequate and well-qualified human resource.

President Mills said that the project was at a high cost to the nation, exhorting those directly involved in its execution to ensure that it went according to plan.

"All of us who have various responsibilities in the project must ensure that we play our parts well for an outcome that we can be proud of," he added.

President Mills reiterated government's resolve to provide infrastructural facilities for health service across the country, adding that plans were advanced for the introduction of the necessary incentives to make the health profession attractive with the needed job satisfaction.

"Soon, shortages of medical logistics and consumables would be a thing of the past. The country would see an expansion and supply of hospital and administrative equipment, as well as the extension of technical support to meet internationally accepted standards," he said.

Defence Minister, Lieutenant General John Henry Smith said the project would enable the armed forces continue to play a key role in health delivery services across the country.

He said it was important that the hospital lived up to its image not only as a military facility but as a UN Level IV Hospital and Teaching Hospital, adding that a competent technical team had been established to ensure the homogeneity of the entire project.

Dr Said Deraz, Chief Executive Officer of Euroget-De Invest said the company was committed to integrity and excellence, promising that it would continue to adhere to the highest standards of ethics consistent with environmental principles.

He said experts of the company were working with the military hospital technical team to enable them supply essential drugs and consumables for running all military hospitals in the country.

The management of Euroget, to mark the occasion donated three fully loaded ambulances, one for the military hospital and two for the Ministry of Health (MOH).