Mahama never started and completed even one regional hospital – Information Minister

The Minister of Information, Fatima Abubakar, has said former President John Mahama cannot lay claim to a single regional hospital he initiated and completed while he was in office.

The minister’s assertion followed a claim by a member of the communications team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Grace Ayensu Danquah, in a panel discussion on Metro TV monitored by GhanaWeb, that John Mahama, who’s the NDC flagbearer for the December 7 general election, built a hospital at Abetifi in the Eastern Region.

But the Minister, who was a co-panelist on the programme, swiftly debunked that claim, emphasising that Mahama cannot be credited with something he has no hand in its execution.

“Take it from me, former President Mahama has not started and completed a single regional hospital. There is a list of nine hospitals [legacy projects], and there is a list of five hospitals [legacy projects]. There are Euroget projects, and I know Abetifi Hospital to be one of the projects that come together with Kumawu Hospital and Fomena Hospital projects. I know this for a fact as a legacy project.

“I am telling you that those legacy projects are not projects that were initiated by former President Mahama. I am saying they did not start with former President Mahama.”

The President Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-led government is currently constructing several hospitals across the country under the Agenda 111 initiative.

Eight-six district hospitals, two regional psychiatric hospitals, and the western regional hospital so far are ongoing and are at various levels of completion.

Agenda 111 hospital projects is providing 101 standard 100-bed district hospitals with accommodation for doctors and nurses in districts without district hospitals and six new regional hospitals for each of the six new regions.

Others include rehabilitating the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in the Western Region; building one new regional hospital in the Western Region; and two psychiatric hospitals for two of the three zones of the country, i.e., Middle and North. The entire package is estimated at $1.75 billion.