Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Victor Bampoe, has disclosed that the construction of the proposed Eastern Regional Hospital and upgrading of some health centres into polyclinics/district hospitals across the country has stalled due to lack of concessionary funds.

The deputy minister made this staggering revelation in Parliament when he appeared before the House to answer questions by some Members of Parliament (MPs) on what his outfit was doing to improve health facilities in their various constituencies.

Dr. Bampoe, responding to Hon. Kofi Okyere-Agyekum, MP for Fanteakwa South, in the Eastern region, on the status of the proposed regional hospital, explained that the delay for the early start of the project was as a result of the refusal of ministry of finance and economic planning to accept a proposal sent to them.

“I wish to indicate that technical and financial proposals were received from a prospective investor for the new Eastern Regional Hospital. These proposals were submitted to the ministry of finance but the ministry did not accept the terms on the basis of non-concessional facility,” he explained further.

Dr. Bampoe, however, assured the House that his outfit was still exploring other sources of funding for the start of the new regional hospital.

When also asked about the health facility in Sampa in the Jaman North District, the deputy minister of health further assured that it would be upgraded to the status of a district hospital.

He indicated that the government’s policy was to provide every district in Ghana with a district hospital as a first referral point at the district level, hinting that the ministry of health was currently negotiating for concessionary funding to provide a district hospital for the people of Sampa.