Story: News Desk 

The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has blamed the delay in the reconstruction of the La General Hospital in Accra on the withholding of funds by the sponsors of the facility.

Making a statement on the floor of Parliament, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said that the sponsors withheld the funds after Ghana entered into an engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“Mr. Speaker, what has happened is that after the engagement with the IMF, funding from those sources that Parliament approved of, the funding has been withheld by the sponsors,” Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said.

“Mr. Speaker, until the nation is given a clean bill of health by the IMF, it is going to be difficult for the funding to be released. This is why the government now wants to situate it within the context of Agenda 111, and that will mean that the facility will have to be scaled down a bit.”

The La General Hospital was demolished in July 2020 after the hospital’s administration reported severe structural problems.

President Akufo-Addo cut the sod for commencement of construction of the La General Hospital Redevelopment Project.

At the sod cutting ceremony on Tuesday, 10th August 2020, President Akufo-Addo indicated that the redevelopment project had been occasioned by a report from the Ghana Health Service, which indicated that the five-storey structure of the Hospital had developed gaping cracks, which made the facility unfit for use. 

Furthermore, the unplanned nature of the entire hospital campus required that it be re-organised so that it could function efficiently as a 21st century hospital, which would  serve the needs of residents of La and its adjoining communities.

With Government’s policy of achieving Universal Health Coverage for all, which demands that access to decent healthcare is guaranteed for every Ghanaian, no matter where they live, the President explained that this was  he reason why Government had to source quickly the requisite funding to embark on the redevelopment of the Hospital, in view of its strategic location in our nation’s healthcare delivery system.  

“This facility, in so many ways, complements the Greater Accra Regional Hospital at Ridge, and its upgrading will serve most people from Osu through La and Teshie, as well as residents living along the coastal corridor of Accra,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo continued, “Indeed, with admissions to this Hospital, arising from maternal health and other related complications, increasing from 20.5% in 2008, to 30% in 2017, and with pregnancy and related conditions, for the first time in the history of the life of this Hospital, being the number one cause of admission, require that we improve rapidly the facilities of this hospital”. 

This redevelopment project is being financed by a credit facility from Standard Chartered Bank of the United Kingdom, with an export credit guarantee from Sinosure of the People’s Republic of China, to the tune of sixty eight million euros (€68 million), with an insurance cover of three million, eight hundred and sixty thousand euros (€3,860,349.18).