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.
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