President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has revealed that sixty-seven thousand, six hundred and thirty-five (67,635) people will be employed in the Agenda 111 hospitals when completed.
According to the president, 89 of these hospitals under the Agenda 111 project are at an average rate of completion of 52%.
He disclosed this when he commissioned the St. Michael’s Specialist Hospital during the weekend.
The government’s Agenda 111 project includes 101 district hospitals, six regional hospitals in the newly created regions, two specialised hospitals in the middle and northern belts, as well as a regional hospital in the Western Region and renovation of the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital.
The objective of the Project is to significantly deepen the delivery of quality healthcare at the district level, and boost access to healthcare services for all citizens towards ensuring the attainment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal Three.
“Under Agenda 111, the construction of eighty-six (86) district hospitals, two (2) regional psychiatric hospitals, and the western regional hospital are ongoing, which are all at various levels of completion,” he said.
He added that, “the average completion rate of the eighty-nine (89) ongoing projects is fifty-two percent (52%), with work at some of the sites being seventy to eighty percent complete. It is worth noting that the construction of these hospitals is being undertaken by indigenous Ghanaian contractors, who have provided direct and indirect jobs to Ghanaians.”
Again, Nana Addo said, “there is an average number of one hundred and twenty (120) workers on each construction site, and, when completed, an average of five hundred and forty-nine (549) persons will be employed in a district hospital, one thousand, three hundred and forty-three (1,343) in a regional hospital, and nine hundred and forty-seven (947) in each psychiatric hospital. This means that sixty-seven thousand, six hundred and thirty-five (67,635) people will be employed in the Agenda 111 hospitals.”
Nana Akufo-Addo also added that the Ghana Ambulance Service has been equipped with three hundred and seven (307) ambulances, that is 1-Constituency-1-Ambulance, in comparison to the fifty-five (55) ‘semi-functioning’ ambulances that existed during the time of the Mahama government.
He concluded that improvements in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to make access easier, and also, drones being used to deliver emergency medical supplies to remote areas.