President John Dramani Mahama has stated that the government will focus on completing 35 hospitals under the Agenda 111 initiative as part of a revised strategy to phase out the project and put stalled facilities to use. Speaking to the Northern Regional House of Chiefs on Friday, May 15, he voiced concerns about the original plan to construct all 111 hospitals at once, noting the lack of proper phasing and sequencing in the implementation.
President Mahama explained that this approach led to many projects stalling at various stages, with some contractors abandoning sites after receiving mobilisation funds. He added that the government is now taking steps to hold defaulting contractors accountable and recover lost funds. “This year, the government will invest in completing these hospitals, and additional funding will be allocated in the next budget to address another batch,” he revealed.
The President further disclosed that the government is also engaging faith-based organisations and other private health operators to adopt some of the hospitals and support their completion and management, as part of efforts to expand access to healthcare delivery across the country.
He stressed that the revised approach forms part of a broader commitment to ensure value for money in public infrastructure projects, particularly in the health sector, and to avoid the accumulation of uncompleted facilities that strain public resources without delivering services to communities.
Source: Patricia Boakye