The Bank of Ghana Hospital in Accra is set to be officially opened today, July 8, 2021.
According to the Central Bank, the hospital that was constructed under the erstwhile Mahama administration will be opened after the event.
Attendance of the event which will take place at the Cantonments premises of the hospital will be strictly by invitation, according to the organizers.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, under whose tenure the facility has been under lock and keys for a few years, is expected to grace the occasion with a government delegation.
Controversy
The Akufo-Addo government has come under severe criticism for failing to open the hospital when the facility had almost been completed when he took over power from Mahama.
The lambasting became intense last year when the government announced that the Central Bank had agreed to release the facility to be used for the treatment of some COVID-19 patients.
Only Bank of Ghana staff and some VIPs were treated at the hospital.
The Minister of Health, Kweku Agyeman Manu disclosed that the decision was an agreement between the Health Ministry and officials of the Bank of Ghana since the facility does not belong to the Ministry.
He added two floors of the hospital have been given to the ministry for this purpose and will host 20 beds for treatment.
However, some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have argued that the Mahama administration cannot be credited for the construction of the magnificent facility because the government did not directly fund it.
But former Communications Minister, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah stated emphatically that former President John Mahama built the facility and the Maritime hospital to provide quality healthcare for the people.
He said the Bank of Ghana Hospital fitted into the debt sustainability management strategy, where government agencies/parastatals were tasked by President Mahama to develop projects on their own balance sheets without encumbering the central government.
By Henryson Okrah|Myxyzonline.com|Ghana