A picture of the bridge at Atafoa commissioned by the president
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has commissioned four of the five 40-bed district hospitals in the Ashanti Region.
They are located at Drobonso in the Sekyere Afram Plains District, Sabronum in the Ahafo Ano South East District, Twedie in the Atwima Kwanwoma District and Suame in the Suame Municipal area.
The Atafoa-Owabi River bridge project was also commissioned, and it was substantially completed and taken over in October this year.
It is recalled that in 2020, the Health Ministry broke the ground for work to commence on the construction of 12 40-bed hospitals in Ashanti, Eastern, Greater Accra regions and one polyclinic at Mim, in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Constructed by VAMED Engineering Company of Austria, these hospitals have been built in other areas across the country, including Jumapo, Kwabeng, Nkwatia, Achiase, Adukrom, Mim, and Kpone Katamanso.
The government secured a €71,500,000 facility from Erste Group Bank AG and Česká Spořitelna a.s to construction and equip these 40-bed hospitals. The facilities also include 12 units of 2-bedroom semi-detached accommodation for hospital workers at each facility.
In addition to the residential accommodation for the hospital staff, the hospitals are equipped with an Outpatient Department with the requisite consulting rooms, a Public Health Department with a 36-seater capacity waiting room, three antenatal consulting rooms, a counselling room, and two offices for Public Health officers.
It also includes a theatre consisting of one surgical suite, an 8-bed paediatric ward, an 8-bed male ward, an 8-bed female ward, four labour delivery stations, an 8-bed maternity ward, a 4-bed lying-in and a 2-bed recovery room.
President Akufo-Addo urged the staff and the people of the areas to ensure that the facilities were adequately administered and maintained to realise the government’s commitment to improving the health status of all residents in the country through improving healthcare infrastructure.
At Atafoa, where the bridge was commissioned, the atmosphere was charged with a tumultuous celebration of the event, with some of the people recalling the number of persons who had died as they were swept away by flood in the area.
In 2023, four persons were killed, while six people were also killed in 2022.
The road project started in 2023, and it was a rehabilitation of a four-km road from Abrepo junction-Barekese road through Offinso road with asphaltic concrete surfacing terminating at Kokoben.
Among the scope of work were the construction of roadside concrete drains and major cross culverts to improve drainage on the road and the construction of a 40-metre span reinforced concrete bridge at Atafoa over River Owabi.
Roads and Highways Minister, during his speech, offered a minute’s silence for the departed souls.
He said the bridge would serve as a lifeline and enabler of economic growth, a solution to a long-standing challenge and a symbol of the government’s commitment to connecting people to places and opportunities.
For years, he observed, residents had been living in fear anytime the river got flooded, and praised the government for its commitment to serving the people.
The President used the event to call on voters to vote for the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, stressing, “we have the responsibility to find a way to persuade the Ghanaian people to make the right choice”.
He said many of the ideas of the government had come from the Vice President and was the best choice for the nation…” for me, there is no choice; the only choice is Dr Bawumia”.
On the economy, he said it was bouncing back… “The economy in Ghana is turning in our fate; the last quarter of the year, the rate of growth of Gross Domestic Product was 6.9 percent doubled when the National Democratic Congress was leaving office in 2016.”
