President John Mahama has said his government’s investment in the health sector has helped to beat down, “dramatically,” child and under-5 mortality rates in Ghana.

Mr Mahama also said life expectancy had increased from 47 years, as pertained in Ghana after independence, to an average of 61 years. “This is a dramatic improvement.”

The President, who was in Dodowa on Monday April 4, to inaugurate a newly-built, multi-purpose Shai-Osudoku District Hospital, which is one of six being put up under the Build to Care programme in the country, said the health post will positively impact the lives of people in the catchment area by providing them with quality health.

The district hospital was built with a mixed credit facility arranged by Barclays Bank Plc with the support of NLA, Citi Bank and JP Morgan, according to the President.

He said similar facilities are being put up in Fomena, Kumawu, Garu Timpane, Abetifi, and Sekondi-Takoradi. While the Fomena and Kumawu projects are expected to be completed in October this year, the three others will be finished in early 2017, according to the president.

He said the Sekondi-Takoradi project, in particular, had been plagued with challenges regarding its location. The site, Mr Mahama said, had been changed three times, but noted that the situation had been resolved paving the way for construction to begin.