The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has assured that government will open the 80-bed capacity polyclinic at Kasoa, in the Central Region, as soon as it secures funding for the contractor to complete work.
According to him, the Kasoa Polyclinic, and the one at Ofankor in the Ga South District of the Greater Accra Region, were designed as part of the Kasoa Interchange project.
He said that until completed and handed over to the Ministry of Health the facilities would be under the purview of the Roads and Highways Ministry.
The Ghanaian Times in its July 18, 2019 issue, reported that the modern health facility had been abandoned, thereby effecting residents of Kasoa and its environs.
However, responding to a question on why the two projects had been abandoned at a news conference in Accra yesterday, Mr Manu said the Ministry of Health was yet to take over the facilities as they were under the purview of the Ministry of Roads and Highways.
“The Kasoa and Ofankor projects were not started by the ministry. They were packaged as part of the road project, and indication from my ministry shows that there wasn’t much collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Roads,” he explained.
Mr Manu said when it came up that these projects were being executed by Ministry of Roads; the health ministry sent its technical personnel to ascertain the situation.
He said a report received indicated that the Ofankor polyclinic had not been completed while there were problems with the one at Kasoa.
Mr Manu said with the Kasoa Polyclinic, there was a tango between the district assembly and the Ministry of Roads as to who should take over ownership of the facility, complete it, stock it with equipment and provide personnel or labour to work there.
“There were systemic challenges with the ministry of roads in trying to help the community by providing them with roads and hospitals without collaborating with the Ministry of Health and that is what is causing the problem,” he emphasized.
Mr Manu said unfortunately the Ministry of Health had no budgetary allocation because the road had been completed, and money exhausted, “but we are engaging and working to see how to raise monies to complete the projects.”
BY Cliff Ekuful
