Civil Engineer, Ing. Abdulai Mahama has opined that the 111 hospitals being built by government can fetch the country more tourism revenue.
He explained that already people from neighbouring countries travel from far just to receive treatment from our “scanty” health systems.
Thus, with the new hospitals in place, many will continue to visit the country’s health facilities.
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He shared this opinion during an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show aired on e.TV Ghana and Happy 98.9FM.
“If government is able to fulfill its promise, Ghana will be a safe place in terms of health. It will also attract foreign currency because most of the sub-Saharan countries fall on us even with the scanty health systems we have and that will give us foreign reserve because of its touristic nature. But this time one is compelled to come into the country because they are not well”, he said.
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The engineer, meanwhile, has urged government to stick to its schedule of completing the 111 hospitals as promised in order for the country to fully utilize these facilities.
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has said that the government will begin the construction of hospitals under the “Agenda 111 project” on Tuesday, August 17, 2021.
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The entire project includes 111 district hospitals, seven new regional hospitals, two additional mental health hospitals to be located in the middle and southern belts, and the redevelopment of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, first announced the project in April 2020 during his eighth update on COVID-19.
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Presenting the 2021 mid-year budget review in Parliament on Thursday, July 29, 2021, the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, also disclosed that the government had decided to execute the initiative in two phases, with the first phase being the processes completed.
The second phase, he said, was the actual construction of 88 district hospitals.
