President John Dramani Mahama says there is no dedicated funding for the flagship healthcare initiative by the previous Akufo-Addo administration dubbed Agenda 111 initiative.
Not a single one of the hospitals constructed under the initiative is operational, the President added in his State of the Nation Address on February 27, 2025.
“I’m sad to note that there’s no dedicated funding source for such gargantuan project. For the record, as I speak, not a single Agenda 111 hospital is operational in any part of Ghana, I challenge you, not a single one is operational,” he stated.
The Agenda 111 initiative was commenced in 2021 under the previous administration to address health infrastructure gap exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and improve the quality of healthcare in the country.
It was announced by then President Akufo-Addo in 2020 at the time the country was battling the Covid-19 pandemic.
101 district hospitals, 6 regional hospitals in the newly created regions, two specialized hospitals in the middle and Northern belts and a regional hospital in the Western Region were to be constructed while the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital be renovated under the initiative.
Ahead of the Akufo-Addo government’s exit from power, the former President had inaugurated at least two of the hospitals the administration claimed had been completed.
But delivering his State of the Nation Address, President said his predecessor and his government did not only fail to secure a dedicated funding source for the initiative but none of the projects has been operationalized.
He also claimed that an amount of US$400 million has, so far, been spent on the project, arguing that at least 22 of them would have been operationalized if the previous administration had expended the resources prudently.
“At a rate of proximately 18 million dollars per hospital, this 400 million dollar spent could have completed and made operational at least 22 of those hospitals. I believe that the money should have been focused on completing a number of hospitals and making them operational instead of spreading over the current 111 hospitals.”
He indicated that he has directed the Ministry of Health to present a plan on completing and operationalizing the projects, giving a hint that the plan is likely to include public/private partnership and franchising.
