Where Are The Nine Hospitals You Promised Us? – Volta NDC Asks Nana Addo

The Volta Regional branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is demanding the nine hospitals promised by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

In a press statement issued and signed by both the Regional and Deputy Regional Communication, Officers reminded the President that “a promise is like a debt and so long as he has made the promise to build the hospitals, he is indebted to the region and we will continue to remind him till the hospitals are constructed in fulfillment of the promise.”

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced that the government will commence the construction of hospitals in the 88 districts in the country without hospitals.

In a televised address to the nation during his updates on Ghana’s situation on the COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday, April 26, 2020, he said “There are 88 districts in our country without hospitals. We have six new regions without regional hospitals. We do not have infectious disease control centres dotted across the country and we don’t have enough testing and isolation centres for diseases like COVID-19. We must do something urgently about this.

“That is why the 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. It will mean 10 in Ashanti, nine in Volta, nine in Central, eight in Eastern, seven in Greater Accra, seven in Upper East, five in Northern, five in Oti, five in Upper West, five in Bono, four in Western North, four in Western, three in Ahafo, three in Savannah, two in Bono East and two in North-Easter regions.

“Each of them will be a quality, standard design 100-bed hospital with accommodation for doctors, nurses, and other health workers and the intention is to complete them within a year.”

But leaders of the NDC in the Volta Region are unhappy with the government over the seeming delay in putting up nine district hospitals in the region.

The NDC said “national development should not be based on the number of seats won by the government in the region” and “we hope the region is not being punished for producing a single MP.

“We don’t want to believe national development is spread along with the number of parliamentary seats won by the NPP as Mr. Freddie Blay, the NPP National Chairman wants the people of the Volta Region to believe.”

This they say, “is unscientific, ill-informed and retrogressive to Ghana’s forward march to self-actualization” and will underpin the development agenda of Nana Addo.

“It is the resolve of the NDC in the Volta Region that it will be a great betrayal on the part of the party to remain silent after a year has elapsed since H.E. the President promised to build nine district hospitals in the region to help improve health delivery infrastructure to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic,” the party said.