By Our Monitoring Desk
The delay in reconstruction of the La General Hospital, in Accra, has been caused by the country’s engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the majority leader has said.
According to Honourable Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, sponsors of the project held back the funds meant for the reconstruction because of the IFM engagement.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament yesterday, the majority leader expatiated that “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,” he added.
In January this year, the Health Ministry of Health affirmed its commitment to the construction of the La General Hospital, despite encountering certain challenges in the process.
The Ministry has assured the public that it is determined to initiate and successfully complete the project.
He was responding to questions from Member of Parliament (MP) for La Dade-Kotopon, Rita Odoley Sowah.
Read below excerpts of Rita Odoley Sowah statement in Parliament:
Mr Speaker, I stand before this honourable house today to shed light on the dire situation surrounding the La General Hospital. This is not just a matter of bricks and mortar; it is a matter of trust, transparency, and accountability in governance.
The handling of the La General Hospital project epitomizes the lack of planning and excessive politicking that seems to characterize infrastructure development fuelling distrust and cynicism about government’s promises within our communities.
I say this as a Member of Parliament of a constituency that saw its major government hospital, the La General Hospital, razed down with what has now become a never-to-be-fulfilled promise to reconstruct a hospital meeting international standard.
Considering the fact that the announcement to demolish the La General Hospital was made at the onset of COVID-19 – a pandemic that took the lives of 1,462 compatriots and whose economic impact is now the general excuse for government’s failure and economic ruin – raises even more questions as to the planning that underpinned the project in its entirety.
Prior to its demolition, the La General Hospital established in the early 1960s a five-storey building had a five-bedroom emergency unity, Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) department, surgical department, male and female wards, a general Out-patient department, a waste management facility and an incinerator and a newer building for Family Planning, Imaging (scan) and HIV services built with the support of the US government after President Obama’s 2009 visit to the maternal ward of the hospital.
Although the hospital had few facilities as enumerated, it served communities around La, Osu and Teshie as a major referral centre and a primary point of call for a varied number of medical complications and emergencies.
However, the hospital infrastructure after 6 decades of constant operation had developed structural deficiencies with patients and medical staff constantly calling on government to either renovate or replace the building to reduce or eliminate the danger it poses to them.
In March of the 2020 election year and with a pandemic in view, government announced an expedited demolition of the old building to make way for an ultra-modern hospital meeting international standard within 24 months. Sequel to which the hospital was closed down on the 1st of March with hospital staff being transferred to other facilities for the project to commence in earnest.
In August 2020, an elaborate sod-cutting ceremony was held, accompanied by grand assurances of having secured a €68 million credit facility, complete with a €3.9 million insurance coverage, to construct a cutting-edge hospital. The project’s blueprint was nothing short of ambitious, featuring an outpatient department, well-equipped inpatient wards, comprehensive maternity and neonatal services, a surgical unit complete with four modern operating theatres, a state-of-the-art accident and emergency department, a dedicated public health department, a well-stocked pharmacy unit, a sophisticated laboratory, a modern administration section, and an imaging area that boasted a CT Scan, X-ray room, ultrasound, fluoroscopy, mammography units, a physiotherapy unit, and even a mortuary.
However, the launch of this project bore an unsettling resemblance to a political rally rather than the solemn inauguration of a much-needed government program with the President espousing government’s policy of achieving Universal Health Coverage for all and intentions to provide a 21st century hospital for the people of La Dadekotopon.
Recall that in July 2020, the hospital facility was demolished due to severe structural issues reported by the hospital’s management back in 2015.
To mark the beginning of the La General Hospital Redevelopment Project, President Akufo-Addo performed the sod-cutting ceremony on August 10, 2020.
