NDC Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi says President Nana Akufo-Addo's pledge to construct 88 district and 6 Regional hospitals in the country is nothing but a "fake promise".
President Nana Akufo-Addo, delivering his 8th update on the COVID-19 pandemic, identified some deficiencies in the health sector and as a result assured Ghanaians that his administration will set up ninety-four hospitals in a year.
"We will, this year, begin constructing eighty-eight (88) hospitals in the districts without hospitals. It will mean ten (10) in Ashanti, nine (9) in Volta, nine (9) in Central, eight (8) in Eastern, seven (7) in Greater Accra, seven (7) in Upper East, five (5) in Northern, five (5) in Oti, five (5) in Upper West, five (5) in Bono, four (4) in Western North, four (4) in Western, three (3) in Ahafo, three (3) in Savannah, two (2) in Bono East, and two (2) in North East Regions".
"Each of them will be a quality, standard-design, one hundred bed hospital, with accommodation for doctors, nurses and other health workers, and the intention is to complete them within a year. We have also put in place plans for the construction of six (6) new regional hospitals in the six (6) new regions, and the rehabilitation of the EffiaNkwanta Hospital, in Sekondi, which is the regional hospital of the Western Region".
"We are going to beef up our existing laboratories and establish new ones across every region for testing. We will establish three (3) infectious disease control centres for each of the zones of our country, i.e. Coastal, Middle Belt and Northern, with the overall objective of setting up a Ghana Centre for Disease Control," he stated.
But Sammy Gyamfi believes the President is throwing dust in the eyes of Ghanaians.
Speaking in a panel discussion on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Sammy Gyamfi urged Ghanaians to treat the President's pledge with the contempt it deserves claiming "Akufo-Addo is the only President in the history of Ghana who hasn't established a single hospital in the nation."