The Municipal Chief Executive for the West Mamprusi Municipality Issahaku Aremeyaw Somo Lucky has justified the delay in the construction of a 100 bed ultra-modern hospital facility for the Municipality.
According to him, procurement processes, coupled with changes of the scope of the project caused the nearly one year delay of the commencement of the project.
Vice President Dr. Mahmudu Bawumia on the 16th of December 2019 cut sod for the new hospital project. The prolonged absence of contractors on the project site raised accusations by residents who have said the Vice President failed in getting the project executed.
But speaking in an interview on Joynews monitored by dreamzfmonline.com, Mr Aremeyaw indicated that, site clearing for the construction has commenced and will be completed within the stipulated time.
“We had to restructure everything. It passes through the procurement processes. You know as the strategy keeps on changing, the procurement processes also changes. That was one of the reasons,” he said.
The MCE stressed that the scope of the project which he described as ‘GNPC hospital’ was expected to be used as a model for the construction of other 88 hospitals promised by government. This he noted contributed to the delay in the establishment of the health facility.
He further stated that Vice President Dr. Mahmudu Bawumia who hails from the Municipality has demonstrated commitment to serving his people and therefore will ensure the hospital sees the light of day.
“The funds that are supposed to be released to the contractor have also been released. So we have nothing to complain about. They are doing the site clearing now and in the two weeks if you go to the site, you would know that the government is working. We cannot promise our people and fail them. The Vice President is a native of Walewale [and] is a native of Mamprugu. It is a duty on him to actually serve his people and that is why he is serving them without any contradiction,” he added.
When completed in 12 months, the 100-bed hospital will have the complement of facilities and units of a modern health delivery facility, including Pharmacy and Physiotherapy units, General laboratory and Radiology lab, an Eye unit, the Dental unit, Clinical Specialists Unit (CSU), Theatre and Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Obstetrics and Gynecology unit, Medical wards, Mortuary, Central Sterilization unit, Laundry and dining hall, as well as state-of-the-art equipment needed for contemporary health care delivery.
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is facilitating its construction.
