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The Brazilian construction company “Contracta,” which is in charge of building the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital 900 maternity block, has received 14 million euros from the government to get its workers back on the job site after the company had been away from it for more than a year.
As part of the IMF conditionality that prohibits the government from spending on capital projects that require an external government credit facility, the government has not released funds to the firm to finish the project on schedule over the past year.
Due to the development, the foreign construction company was forced to fire roughly 2000 employees who were involved in various other capital-intensive government projects in Kumasi.
Following his visit to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Dr. Muhammad Amin Adam, the newly appointed Finance Minister, gave an assurance to the media in Kumasi that work would soon resume.
His visit was intended to give him the chance to observe firsthand the difficulties the hospital faces and to evaluate the progress made at the location of the new Maternity Block construction.
The government was committed to finishing all projects initiated in the Ashanti region, including roads, markets, hospitals, and other facilities, the Finance Minister told the media.
He claimed that he has been given orders by the President to secure funding in order to finish the Sofoline Interchange, the second phase of the Kejetia project, the KATH Maternity Block, the Kumasi International Airport, and the roads in the Ashanti Region.
He revealed that the contractor working on the Afari Military Hospital had received $5 million and he was confident the project would soon be finished and put into use.
The Asantehene’s Heal KATH Project is renovating Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, according to Prof. Otchere Addai Mensah, the hospital’s chief executive.
He added that the completion of the 900-bed Maternity block would be a welcome gesture since they would have more space to move patients and complete the renovations. Currently, he noted that management has had to adopt a phased approach due to lack of space to renovate and still take care of patients.
“The difficult call i have had to make as CEO has been to ask patients to be sent to private facilities because we may lack the equipment to treat or may have been overburdened with other issues and i am hopeful that with this visit of the Finance Minister we will have government support to address the challenges we have here”, Prof Addai Mensah added.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
