John Dramani Mahama has said that government will undertake the construction of modern health facilities in areas of need to make healthcare accessible to the people of Ghana.

He said: “In the next four years, we will work towards improving access, service quality, increased personnel, and enhanced working conditions across the various professions in the health sector."

President Mahama was delivering his first State of the Nation address in parliament since in inauguration as president.

He said government would start the processes for the establishment of regional hospitals in the Eastern and Upper East regions, and work would continue on the Regional hospital project at Wa.

He promised that the Central and Volta Regional hospitals would be upgraded into teaching hospitals to expand the scope for training medical doctors and other healthcare specialists. The government, in the interim, would provide 600-bed teaching hospital for the University of Ghana.

“Work will also start on six district hospitals at Dodowa, Abetifi, Fomena, Garu, Kumawu, and Sekondi. The refurbishment of the Takoradi European hospital will commence in earnest, he promised.

He further stated that phase one of the specialist emergency centre at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital will soon begin as well as an additional 1,600 CHIPS compounds across the country by the end of 2016.

President Mahama said as the nation forges ahead in social development and economic transformation, it was important to be “mindful of our fellow citizens who, for reasons of social and economic circumstances have become vulnerable and marginalised".

“Our social protection programme is two-pronged. We will design programmes to protect those who require permanent protection and empower through training and activation those who can be reintegrated into the labour market,” the president stated.

The state of the nation address is a constitution requirement of the president, to declare his vision for the country in the four-year mandate given to him.