Over US$60mn loan approved for construction of health facilities

 

Adnan Adams Mohammed

Parliament, last week, approved a €56,153,500.00 credit facility from Deutsche Bank AG and Global Services (UK) Limited for the construction of health facilities in some parts of the country.

 

Two Trauma Hospitals will be constructed in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region and Anyinam in the Eastern region. The facility will also see an Accident and Emergency Centre put up at Enyiresi Hospital and the rehabilitation of Obuasi Health Centre.

 

The project forms part of the approved list of priority projects for implementation captured in the 2020 Budget and Financial Policy Statement presented by finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta and are expected to be completed within three years after commencement.

 

The facility agreement between Ghana and the lending Bank Deutsche Bank AG with TMF Global Services of the United Kingdom as the facility arranger to finance the projects was presented to the House on Wednesday, July 1, 2020, by Charles Adu Boahen, a Deputy Minister of Finance on behalf of the substantive Minister Ken Ofori and referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and approval.

 

In presenting report of the finance committee on the agreement, Chairman of the Committee Mark Assibey-Yeboah said the country is committed to ensuring the provision of health infrastructure to ensure quality health services delivery and also to promote universal access to health care services nationwide.

 

According to the New Juaben South MP the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has enhanced financial access to healthcare services with increasing utilization of Out-Patient-Department services nationwide, yet the development of health infrastructure has not kept pace with the continuous increase in demand for OPD services in all regions of the country.

 

The object of the loan is to finance the construction of the required infrastructure and the provision of medical equipment and ancillary services to ensure that the beneficiary hospitals are fully operational and befitting their status to provide the enabling condition for attracting the needed healthcare professionals.

 

Mark Assibey-Yeboah added the Committee observed that Obuasi in Ashanti Region and Anyinam in the Eastern Region presently do not have any major government hospitals while the existing Obuasi Health Centre is presently ill-equipped and inadequate to meet the health needs of the burgeoning population of the catchment area.

 

The Committee, he said, was also informed that the Enyiresi Hospital though strategically located along the Accra-Kumasi highway does not have a modern Accident or Emergency Centre, hence the project is intended to provide the required infrastructure, medical equipment, ancillary facilities and services to ensure that the beneficiary hospitals are fully operational and befitting the status of modern hospitals with an emphasis on trauma.