President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, yesterday inaugurated the Bolgatanga Regional Rehabilitation project in the Upper East Region to boost health care delivery.
The US $52 million project which received funding support from the Saudi Arabia government is a four-storey building with 39 apartment flat accommodation for hospital staff.
It also has mothers’ hospital; mortuary block; kitchen, and laundry augmented with medical equipment.
The government signed a loan agreement amounting to US$12 million with the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) for the project on November 5, 2008.
The contract was awarded to SAUDCONSULT in November the same year to design and supervise the hospital.
President Akufo-Addo said the expansion works currently being undertaken signified the government’s commitment to addressing the health needs of the people in the region.
He said access to quality health care is a fundamental right of every citizen in the country, and it behoved every responsible government to ensure its citizenry had access to quality healthcare delivery.
The new hospital, he added, had reinforced the government’s dedication to the call of being accountable and responsive to the people.
“It is part of our broader agenda to ensure that no Ghanaian is left out when it comes to receipt of quality health care. The people of Bolgatanga and the entire Upper East deserve nothing, but the best.
“And today, we are delivering a rehabilitated State-of-the-art medical facility that will serve as a symbol of hope and the centre of excellence in healthcare delivery throughout the country,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo said, over the years, the hospital had been undergoing multiple refurbishment and expansion works not only to befit its status but meet the growing health needs of the people in the region.
According to him, the phase III of the project if completed, would make the Regional Hospital an excellent model facility offering a wide range of health care services to the people.
The transformation, he said, was made possible by a US$20 million concessionary loan facility from the SFD which supported the phases (II and III) of the project.
Again, he said, the government through the Ministry of Health secured another US$12 million loan facility to cover the design, supervision, ancillary works for the phase III of the hospital rehabilitation project.
When the execution of the project was confronted with funding challenges, the government went for additional US$20 million from the SFD,” he stated.
The President pledged that the project would be executed expeditiously and efficiently to meet the December 2024 timelines.
FROM FRANCIS DABRE DABANG, BOLGATANGA
