- "The Ministry of Health initially got $100 million allocation to spend on COVID-19. That amount has been exhausted, and we have got another money that is just about to mature for the ministry to utilise which is about $120 million from the World Bank, and it is a loan."
Health minister-designate Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has revealed a Cedi equivalent of $100 million allocated to fight COVID-19 has been exhausted.
Appearing before the Appointments Committee on Wednesday (10 February 2021), he said the country is expecting some $120 million from the World Bank to continue the fight against the viral disease.
“The Ministry of Health initially got $100 million allocation to spend on COVID-19. That amount has been exhausted, and we have got another money that is just about to mature for the ministry to utilise which is about $120 million from the World Bank, and it is a loan,” the minister-designate told the 26-member committee.
A president’s promise
In March 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said he has directed then Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to make available the cedi equivalent of $100 million to enhance Ghana’s coronavirus preparedness and response plan.
This amount, according to president Akufo-Addo, “is to fund expansion of infrastructure, purchase of materials and equipment, and public education.”
No land for hospitals
In an unrelated development, Agyeman-Manu said a total of 13 districts have not responded to government’s request to offer lands for the construction of hospitals across the country.
According to him, government is still committed to realise President Akufo-Addo’s vision of constructing 88 hospitals.
In his eighth address to the nation on measures government is implementing to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, Akufo-Addo announced new 88 district hospitals will be constructed, especially in the six new regions.
“There are 88 districts in our country without district hospitals; we have six (6) new regions without regional hospitals; we do not have five infectious disease control centres dotted across the country; and we do not have enough testing and isolation centres for diseases like COVD-19. We must do something urgently about this. That is why Government has decided to undertake a major investment in our healthcare infrastructure, the largest in our history. We will, this year, begin constructing 88 hospitals in the districts without hospitals,” the president said.
Agyeman-Manu said the finance ministry has offered assurance to make funds available for the new hospitals.
“It was the vision of the president to see those hospitals completed within the promised time so he set up a committee including all the key stakeholders and we started working. We asked all the district to give us land for the construction of the hospitals.
“As I speak, we still have about 13 districts that have not completed the exercise of giving us lands and site plan for the works to be done,” the ministerial nominee stated.
The standard 100 -bed facilities which will be in districts without hospitals will also have accommodation for staff.
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