Parliament on Tuesday approved a number of agreements to construct a number of health facilities across the country.
These include the construction and equipping of a new 330-bed Maternity Block at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), construction of Tema, Nkoronza, Dormaa hospitals and the Central Medical Stores and ancillary facilities.
Others were the construction of a new La General Hospital by pulling down the old one, construction of the Shama Hospital, construction of 12 polyclinics in the Ashanti, Eastern, Greater Accra Ahafo Regions and a turnkey construction of a Urology and Nephrology Centre of Excellence at KBTH.
An amount of €147,420,550.00 has been earmarked for the 330-bed facility at the KBTH from a loan facility from Standard Chartered Bank, London, with support from Exportkreditamnden (EKN) and AB Svennsk (SEK) for an amount of €16,772,474.34 to finance the construction and the equipping of the new facility.
The finance for rebuilding of the La General Hospital was accessed from a Sinosure-backed term loan facility agreement between the government and Standard Chartered Bank, London as the original lender with Sinosure premium support for an amount of €56,574,082.70 and a term loan facility from the same Standard Chartered Bank for an amount of €9,983,661.65.
For the construction of the Tema, Nkoranza, Dormaa hospitals and the Central Medical Stores and ancillary facilities, the loan agreement was sourced from the Israel Discount Bank Limited with support from Ashra’s Premium Guarantee for an amount €139,339,000.00 and a commercial loan facility from same entities to a tune of €21,000,000.00.
The Shama District Hospital also had a Sinosure-backed loan agreement from Standard Chartered Bank, London for €28,736,042.00 and a loan facility of €5,071,066.24 from same entities.
The polyclinic projects for the various regions were being financed from facility agreement between the government and the Erste Group Bank AG and Ceska Sporitelna AC for an amount of €79,265,656.00.
BY LAWRENCE MARKWEI