The government launched the Agenda 111 aimed at building hospitals across the country
• Ghana has rolled out its Agenda 111 project aimed at building hospitals across the country
• The government says it will fully fund the project
• The Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health is unconvinced by the explanations
The explanation by the government on how it intends to fund the Agenda 111 project is not enough, says the president of the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health, Bright Amissah.
According to him, the explanation by president’s advisor on health Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare that all costs for the projects will be undertaken by the government is not convincing enough.
Instead, he has asked that the government comes out with a better explanation detailing exactly how it will fund the project, myjoyonline.com reported.
“It’s still not enough to say government of Ghana will fund it. Now, where are we going to raise all the money within the year? Look at the stipulated time – 12 to 18 months period. Are we able to raise that budget to fund these to its final completion? These are the critical questions that we are asking. So, if you come to say government will fund it, it’s just not enough,” he said, rejecting the position of the government.
He insists that there should be a more elaborate breakdown on the financial commitments to be made towards the Agenda 111, stating where and how exactly the monies will be gotten.
“Are we mobilizing the funds domestically? Are we giving partners to support and all that? So, he is supposed to come clear on that. To us we are not just satisfied to say that it is GOG project and it ends there,” he stressed.
Amissah wondered why a project of such peculiarity isn’t being directly coordinated by the health sector, especially when they are competent enough to do so.
“It is really a big deal to us as we have the health sector. I believe they should have coordinated this and talking about flagship programmes by government, government has made a lot of flagship pronouncements in the past years. The free SHS was one, Tema Interchange, the Pokuase and all those things.
“It’s about four interchanges that at the same time was going on, it was a flagship programme. The 1D1F was one of them and they were all initiated under sector ministries who were doing the same work. So, what is unique about Agenda 111 that it has to be coordinated by a different body,” he lamented.
About Agenda 111
The Agenda 111 project includes 101 district hospitals, six regional hospitals in the newly created regions, two specialised hospitals in the middle and northern belts, as well as a regional hospital in the Western Region and renovation of the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital.
It is aimed at transforming the country’s inadequate healthcare infrastructure.
