The government has released funds for the completion of the Afari Military Hospital in the Ashanti Region after the project stalled due to financial constraints.
The completion date for the 500-bed capacity hospital has repeatedly been shifted after construction commenced in 2014.
The contract was signed in 2008, and the delay in the project has been due to several factors ranging from multiple site changes, holdup in tax exemptions and contractual disputes.
Project contractors, Eurogett D’Invest, are optimistic about completing the facility by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
“We have already started and we have not less than 150 workers on site. In two weeks, we will increase to about five hundred and after Christmas, we will increase to more than a thousand”, Main Site Manager, Ahmed Abu Shamaa said.
He added, “Most of the buildings have been finished, the remaining is just final touches and installation of medical equipment.
He spoke to the media when Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare toured the facility following resumption of work.
The 500-bed capacity Afari Military Hospital has 50 medical and non-medical buildings with 15 operating theatres.It has nine delivery rooms, with two endoscopy operating rooms.
The hospital will also have a medical gas plant for the production of five medical gasses.All buildings are already completed with some furniture installed awaiting medical equipment.
Financing for the hospital project stalled, resulting in the long halt of work on the facility that was at an advanced stage of completion.
Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare, said the necessary funds have been released for the project to progress.
“No contractor will come to the site if he doesn’t have liquidity especially if he sees that if he does not take care it won’t be paid. They have received liquidity but we will continue to give them the money through the Ministry of Finance,” he said.
At the time of the visit, some staff of Eurogett D’Invest contractors were on site clearing weeds that had overtaken the buildings.
Dust that had engulfed some furniture was being cleaned in wait for engineering staff and other workers.
Most medical equipment were under lock and key at the site with very delicate ones being stored at the warehouse.
Dr Nsiah Asare dispelled rumours the equipment is exposed to extreme weather conditions.
“MRI uses Helium, it’s a magnet that turns round, nobody will put an MRI in a non-air-conditioned room. Whoever talks about MRO or CT scan sitting in the sun doesn’t know what he is talking [about].”
The Afari Military Hospital is one of the nine health projects under the Eurogett D’Invest.
