BY PRINCE ADDO FRIMPONG
The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) and Africa’s Brain Bank have partnered to establish a medical city at Ada in the Greater Accra Region to provide quality healthcare services and reduce the need for Africans to travel abroad for medical treatment.
The proposed historic medical city is expected to provide healthcare services ranging from primary to tertiary care and position Ghana as a medical tourism hub in Africa.
The project was announced at the seventh Summit, Annual Charity Ball and Medical City Groundbreaking Ceremony of Africa’s Brain Bank in Accra yesterday.
The event was held on the theme: “Africa’s greatest wealth, its people; Restoring Africa’s health capital.”
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Global Chairperson of Africa’s Brain Bank Global, Rev. Dr Pam Fomunung, said the facility would provide state-of-the-art and comprehensive healthcare services to patients in Ghana and across the continent.
She said the project would also help retain in Africa some of the huge financial resources spent by Africans seeking medical treatment outside the continent.
Rev. Dr Fomunung said an estimated $7 billion was spent annually by Africans on medical tourism outside the continent, stressing that the proposed facility was intended to retain a substantial portion of those resources in Africa.
“We want to keep that money on the continent and, more importantly, make Africa a medical tourism hub of the world,” she said.
She said considerable planning had gone into the project, adding that she had personally invested in developing the concept and design of the Medical City.
Rev. Dr Fomunung also emphasised the need for patient-centred care, assuring that patients would be treated with dignity, irrespective of their social or economic status.
The President of Africa’s Brain Bank, Dr Michael K. Obeng, described the project as “a huge opportunity” for Ghana and Africa, particularly in addressing the continent’s dependence on foreign healthcare systems.
He said many Africans, including Ghanaians, continued to travel to Europe and the United States for medical treatment, stressing the need for African-led solutions to the challenge.
Dr Obeng said the Medical City would provide Ghanaians and other Africans with access to quality healthcare without the need to travel outside the continent.
The founder of Enklick Group and African Union Ambassador for Agenda 2063, Mr Sam Uloho, said the initiative could also encourage Africans in the diaspora to return and contribute their expertise and resources to the continent’s development.
He acknowledged that the project was still at an early stage but expressed confidence that it could develop into a major initiative capable of contributing significantly to Africa’s development.
Mr Uloho urged Africans in the diaspora to support programmes aimed at channelling their expertise and resources into development initiatives on the continent.
BY PRINCE ADDO FRIMPONG
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