John Dramani Mahama, the Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has reiterated his promise to build a brand new modern hospital in the Bawku Municipality.

He said even though there was a missionary hospital in Bawku serving the health needs of the people, it was critical for the area to benefit from a modern government hospital to complement the Presbyterian hospital in the Municipality.

“We promised that when we come into office after the 2016 elections, we were going to build a brand new hospital in Bawku Central. Unfortunately, we didn’t win the 2016 elections and that is why the hospital has not been delivered.”

Mr Mahama said this when he paid a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief of the Bawku Traditional Area, Zug-raan Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II as part of his three-day tour of the Upper East Region.

The NDC's Presidential Candidate emphasized that “We are repeating that promise, that if we win this 2020 elections, we know there is a missionary hospital here, but because of the expanding size of Bawku, we need a new bigger, modern government hospital in Bawku.”

He said the next NDC government would implement an additional programme to buttress the National Health Insurance programme.

“So that any Ghanaian who does not have a National Health Insurance card, when you go to hospital, once you have a Ghana card that shows you are a Ghanaian, if you present your Ghana card, you will get treatment free of charge.

“We noticed that since 2007 the number of people who benefit from health insurance are only 40 percent of our population. 60 percent of the Ghanaian population paid for their hospital bills when they visited health facilities,” the former President said.

According to Mr Mahama, the NDC usually delivered on its promises anytime they were in government, “Everything we have in this Traditional Area, we always get when the NDC is in office. When the NPP comes into office, there’s no development.

He said the choice between the NDC and the NPP in Presidential and Parliamentary elections was “Very clear, but of course we must show respect to the people by coming and asking for their votes.”

The Paramount Chief of the Bawku Traditional Area in an address to the former President, called for unity and peace as they went about their campaigns.

The Zug-raan Naba Azoka II prayed for God's blessings for the Presidential Candidate and his entourage and granted Mr Mahama the permission to campaign in his Traditional Area.