Government to spend US$7.65 billion to complete Agenda 111 projects, says Okoe Boye

The Minister of Health, Bernard Okoe Boye, says the government will spend US$7.65 billion to complete the Ghana Priority Health Infrastructure Projects, popularly known as “Agenda 111”, to provide quality health care across the country.

The Agenda 111 projects comprise 104 district hospitals, seven regional hospitals, two regional psychiatric hospitals (to serve the Northern and middle belt zones) and one new national psychiatric hospital in Accra.

Currently, construction work is ongoing on 96 of the projects which are at various stages of completion.

The health facilities will provide employment to over 60,000 health personnel on completion.

As of 17 July 2024, the government had paid more than US$312 million to contractors working at various sites.

Dr Okoe Boye made this disclosure during the Minister’s Press Briefing organised by the Ministry of Information in Accra on Wednesday (18 September).

The briefing was on the topic “Empowering Health Care Through Strategic Policy Towards Universal Health Coverage”. It highlighted some of the policy interventions and health infrastructure projects implemented by the government since 2017.

New maternity block for KATH

The minister explained that Agenda 111 projects are subdivided into three phases, with Category A projects at 70% completion or above, Category B projects at between 50% and 70% completion, and Category C projects at below 50%.

Dr Okoe-Boye provided detailed information on some of the health infrastructure projects, which were started by the government in 2021 and expanded to include La General Hospital.

La General Hospital, located in the Greater Accra Region, was demolished in 2022 after a structural audit report showed that the facility was a death trap.

The new hospital under construction is a €50 million, ultra-modern facility funded by the Government of Ghana, and will be completed within 36 months.

Other site-specific health projects being undertaken by the government are the 101-bed capacity urology centre at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, rehabilitation of the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital in the Western Region at a cost of €90 million, a €138.8 million maternity block at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi and a 250-bed, ultra-modern hospital in Akodum, near Koforidua, in the Eastern Region.

Others are a new ultra-modern regional hospital for the Western Region located in Apemanim (estimated to cost €90 million), a €20 million ultra-modern hospital for Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, a €40 million hospital in Kyebi and an ultra-modern hospital in Fomena in the Ashanti Region.

People power

The government has completed building roughly 250 Community-based Health Planning and Services posts (known as CHPS compounds) and 400 health centres across the country.

On employment of health personnel, Dr Okoe Boye said the government had recruited over 21,000 new staff since 2017, with an average of 3,000 new recruits being employed every year.

Ghana is currently training more nurses than required – 55,000 every year, Dr Okoe Boye said. He announced that Ghana is in talks with Germany, the Seychelles, the United Kingdom and Jamaica to export Ghanaian nurses to work in those countries.

The minister said a third batch of Ghanaian nurses will soon leave the shores of Ghana for Barbados under a friendly arrangement between Ghana and Barbados.

He suggested that proper negotiation should be entered into with the beneficiary countries so that Ghana will receive at least 5% of the salaries of the Ghanaian nurses working abroad to help train more nurses at home.

“The remittances from Ghanaian nurses working abroad can assist the country in so many ways,” he said.

He cited the Cuba model, under which the Cuban government exports medical doctors and in turn receives foreign exchange earnings from its human resources.

Dr Okoe Boye said that meanwhile, the government would also construct two more medical drone delivery centres to ensure prompt delivery of medicines and blood products to health facilities in hard-to-reach areas.

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