Ghana government to invest in healthcare infrastructure
The President has announced plans by the Government to invest heavily in healthcare infrastructure, across the country, to ensure that every Ghanaian has access to quality healthcare.
President Nana Addo Dankwa, who announced this said, this year, it will begin the construction of 88 hospitals in the districts without hospitals.
The beneficiary districts in Ashanti-10; Volta-nine; Central-nine; Eastern-eight;Greater Accra-seven and Upper East-seven.
The rest are:Northern-five; Oti-five; Upper West-five; Bono-five; Western North-five; Western Region-four; Ahafo-three; Savannah-three; Bono East-three and North East-two.
Each of the health facilities would be a quality and standard-design 100-bed capacity, with accommodation for medical doctors, nurses and other health workers, and expected to be completed within a year.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced these in his eighth national broadcast on Sunday night to update citizens on the enhanced measures being implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The President said additionally, the Government would construct six new hospitals in the six new regions, and rehabilitate the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi.
“We will beef up our existing laboratories and establish new ones across every region for testing.
“We will also establish three infectious disease control centres for each of the three zones, that is, Coastal, Middle Belt and Northern”.
President Akufo-Addo stated that the recent tragic outbreak of CSM, with 40 deaths, had reaffirmed the need for infectious disease control centres across the country.
He explained: “The virus has exposed the unequal distribution of our health facilities. We have, over the years, focused our health facilities in Accra and other one or two big cities.
“However, epidemics and pandemics when emerged, could spread to any part of the country.
“It is my hope and expectation that this expanded and empowered public health system will be the most enduring legacy of the pandemic.
“Universal health coverage in Ghana will, then, become real and meaningful, for every Ghanaian deserves good health and good Healthcare”.
He encouraged Ghanaians to continue observing the safety and hygiene protocols, including covering the mouth when coughing and sneezing, frequently washing hands with soap under running water, using alcohol-based hand sanitizers and avoiding touching the mouth, nose and eyes with unclean hands.
They should also wear face masks in public places as well as observe the two metre social distancing.
The President underlined the importance of also investing in the preventive and promotive aspects of healthcare in addition to care for the sick.
“Whilst maternal, new-born, adolescent health and nutrition remain our top priorities, we must pay increased attention to chronic, noncommunicable diseases such as heart diseases, diabetes and asthma, which have proved to be the common risk factors for the 11 deaths we have recorded from the virus,” he said.
Ghana’s confirmed cases for COVID-19 stands at 1,550, with 155 recoveries and 11 deaths, as of Sunday, April 26, after the receipt of 100,622 after sample test results by the Ghana Health Service from the various testing centres.
Source: GNA