A leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) says President Nana Akufo-Addo will find money to fund the construction of 88 hospitals in various districts across the country although there was no provision for them in the 2020 budget.
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko said President Akufo-Addo and Cabinet have thoroughly dissected every aspect of what he described as the most ambitious health infrastructure programme ever to be rolled out since independence and moves were being made to find funding for it.
President Akufo-Addo during his 8th address to the nation on measures taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the country announced plans for the construction of the hospitals.
He said the pandemic has exposed the unequal distribution of health facilities in the country and his government intends to address that.
“…We must do something urgently about this. That is why the government has decided to undertake a major investment in our healthcare infrastructure, the largest in our history. We will, this year, begin constructing 88 hospitals in the districts without hospitals,” he said.
Shortly after that address, however, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam, Ato Forson questioned the plan and wondered how the government was going to fund the project, especially because the “2020 budget and the appropriation Act allocated only GH¢44 million for health infrastructure.”
But, Mr Otchere-Darko in a Facebook post said “…Well, there wasn’t Covid-19 when the budget was made. There wasn’t any 50% subsidy for electricity and 100% free water in the budget but that and many more are happening.
“The same way, before Covid-19, there was no budget for collapsed banks, savings & loans, etc and yet this government found the money. When Akufo-Addo’s Cabinet sat until 2:am last Thursday they didn’t do that to drink tea and chew cream crackers.”
The legal practitioner called on the NDC to be patient because details of the hospital projects will be made transparent and open to public scrutiny and action.
“Trust Nana, he may be unusually ambitious but he usually puts his mouth where his ambition is and his money where his mouth is,” he said.