Government has started the construction of a Psychiatric Hospital in the Northern Region funded by the Central Government to improve access to psychiatric health service in the area.

Sule Salifu, Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive, who announced this, said it was under the agenda 111 of the government to roll out a grand national flagship project in health.

He was addressing the ordinary meeting of members of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly in Tamale.

Salifu said the scope of the project included the construction of Male and Female Wards, an Occupational Therapy Facility and Medical Waste Disposal Facility, Security Posts, a Family Hostel for the patients’ relatives, executive apartments, and non-medical support services amongst others.

He said this year, the Metropolis recorded positive cases of polio, and in view of that, the Metropolitan Health Directorate had started undertaking a polio-vaccination exercise to address the situation.

He said this year, the government handed over CHPS compounds at Tugu and Dohini communities to the Health Directorate to operate.

He said, “The facilities are expected to bring some relief to the citizenry as far as health service delivery in those communities and surrounding areas is concerned.”

Salifu appealed for support from Assembly Members to liaise with the chiefs for land to be earmarked as CHPS zones for the construction of more of such facilities to enhance quality health care in the rural areas.

He also announced that the Assembly, in collaboration with some German partners, was in the process to build labour ward for the Tamale West Hospital.

He touched on education and said the Assembly was committed to ensuring that school infrastructure, ancillary facilities, and quality education were accessible and affordable to all children in the area.

He indicated that the Assembly had also committed to ensuring that the progress of all ongoing educational projects was hastened and duly completed to serve their intended purposes.