President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has described the Agenda 111 initiative as overly ambitious but pledged to complete the projects before the end of his term in January 2025.
“Agenda 111 is an ambitious project, which must and will be done, and which will create some 33,900 jobs for construction workers, and, on completion, some 34,300 jobs for health workers”, he stated.
The President, delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Accra on Wednesday, said identifying suitable sites around the country, for example, had turned out to be even more problematic than had been anticipated.
“I can say that a great deal of the preparatory work has now been completed, and work has started at 87 of the 111 sites.
“We have every intention of seeing this project through to a successful end, which will enable me to commission all 111 hospitals before I leave office on January 7, 2025, the President stated.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic had exposed other shortcomings of the country, which had undoubtedly, contributed to the anxieties that have befallen the nation.
Agenda 111
The President explained that “At the normal rate of growth, we are not likely to make up the deficit in our health facilities infrastructure for a very long time. Hence, the need for a special, dedicated programme of infrastructural development.
“The 111 entities under construction, comprised of standard 100-bed district hospitals, 101 districts without hospitals, with accommodation for doctors and nurses; six new regional hospitals for each of the six new regions; the rehabilitation of the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in the Western Region.
“One new regional hospital for the Western Region; and three psychiatric hospitals for each of the three zones of the country, namely the North, Middle and Coastal,” he indicated.
