The President, Nana Akufo-Addo’s announcement on the construction of hospitals in some 88 districts across the country in his eighth address to the nation has sparked a debate amongst Ghanaians.
Some citizens are of the view that the nation is not in right standing economically to undertake the project whilst some factions also claim the government is capable of doing so.
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Speaking to the issue on the Happy Morning Show on Happy98.9FM, was Chartered Economist, Gideon Amissah, who asserted that the “nation’s economy is not sound to support the President’s promise”.
He accepted the fact that the need for these hospitals were important but questioned the viability of the project when Ghana was losing a lot of its revenue to the fight of COVID-19, both locally and internationally.
“Looking at our revenue coming in as a country presently, it’ll be impossible for the 88 district hospitals project to be completed in a year”.
He noted that expected revenue targets of the nation were not being met. The drop in crude oil prices, has also affected the revenue generated from the oil sector with revenue from the ports also having been affected because of COVID-19, he explained.
Gideon furthered that what made matters worse was the increase in government’s expenditure. The government in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic provided some relief to the vulnerable and Small Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
The Chartered Economist mentioned the above as a contributing factor for his position. “The support of government to citizens over the period has given the gov’t a deficit, he reiterated”.
The President disclosed this in his eighth address to the nation on Sunday.
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“There are 88 districts in our country without hospitals; we have six (6) new regions without hospitals; we do not have five infectious disease control centres dotted across the country; and we do not have enough testing and isolation centres for diseases like COVD-19. We must do something urgently about this. That is why 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.
The standard 100 -bed facilities which will be in districts without hospitals will also have accommodation for staff.
By: Joel Sanco