SONA 2022: I'll Commission All 'Agenda 111' Hospitals Before I Leave Office - President Assures

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has, in his State of the Nation Address today at Parliament, assured Ghanaians of his commitment and determination to see to the construction as well as completion of the 111 hospitals across the country.

Dubbed ''Agenda 111'', the President promised Ghanaians the project would be completed in the year 2020 but unfortunately the government didn't meet the schedule, hence casting doubts over the President's ability to construct the hospitals.

Critics called the President's bluff but the President, in his address on Wednesday, has reiterated his willingness to constructing the hospitals.

Describing the initial schedule for the completion of the hospitals as ''overly ambitious'', the President explained his aim for the Agenda 111 saying, ''we are undertaking the construction of 111 entities, which comprise standard 100-bed district hospitals for 101 districts without hospitals, with accommodation for doctors and nurses; six(6) 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, that is north, middle and coastal."

"Agenda 111 is an anbitious project, which must and will be done, and which will create some thirty-three thousand, nine hundred(33,900) jobs for construvtion workers, and on completion, some thirty-four thousand, three hundred (34,300) jobs for the health workers,"
he added.

"Mr. Speaker, I have to report that, like all major construction projects, it's evident that the initial schedule we gave for the completion of Agenda 111 was overly ambitious. Identifying suitable sites around the country, for example, has turned out to be even more problematic than had been anticipated . . .", he elucidated.

President Nana Akufo-Addo pledged all the hospitals will be fully done before he exits office.

" . . work has started at 87 of the 111 sites. I have been assured that preliminary work on the remaining 24 sites is ongoing. We have every intention of seeing this project through a successful end which will enable me to commission all 111 hospitals before I leave office on 7th January, 2025," he promised.