President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said the country’s management of the COVID-19 outbreak has been exemplary.
Delivering the 2022 State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Wednesday (30 March), Akufo-Addo said, “The management of our COVID-19 has been exemplary. By the grace of the Almighty, we have saved lives.
“I took the decision we would prioritise the saving of lives, and then we would get together to rebuild our economy. Nobody imagined the devastation would be so widespread and last so long,” he said.
“We had to learn some very hard lessons, and our belief in the need to be self-sufficient was reinforced when vaccine nationalism was played out blatantly by the rich and powerful countries.”
Vaccine manufacture
President Akufo-Addo also said the government has taken steps to ensure that vaccines are produced locally.
“Mr Speaker, the Presidential Vaccine Manufacturing Committee, which I set up to respond to this obvious deficiency, has put in place a comprehensive strategy for domestic vaccine production, and the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute to implement the strategy, which will enable us to begin the first phase of commercial production in January 2024,” he said.
“A bill will shortly be brought to you, in this House, for your support and approval for the establishment of the National Vaccine Institute.”
Agenda 111
The president also described the timelines given for completion of the governments Agenda 111 projects as ambitious.
“This pandemic exposed other shortcomings of our country, which have, undoubtedly, contributed to the anxieties that have befallen the nation. Agenda 111 was born out of this necessity to address some of these shortcomings.
“At the normal rate of growth, we are not likely to make up the deficit in our health facilities infrastructure for a very long time. Hence, the need for a special, dedicated programme of infrastructural development,” he said.
Akufo-Addo announced that identifying appropriate locations around the country to site the projects has proved more difficult than anticipated, but said he is determined to complete the programme before he leaves office in 2025.
“We are undertaking the construction of 111 entities, which comprise standard 100-bed district hospitals in 101 districts without hospitals, with accommodation for doctors and nurses; six new regional hospitals for each of the six new regions; the rehabilitation of the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in the Western Region; one new regional hospital for the Western Region; and three psychiatric hospitals for each of the three zones of the country, ie, North, Middle and Coastal,” he said.
Watch the full 2022 State of the Nation Address below:
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