Former Deputy Information Minister under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration, Felix Ofosu Kwakye has called the Agenda 111 policy introduced by President Akufo-Addo to improve healthcare in the country as a “knee-jerk” reaction to the NDC government's achievement in the health sector.

Speaking on Top Story, he said the project has been introduced by the government as a way to put a stop to the praises former President John Mahama received for his contribution to health care delivery in the country amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Indeed this whole talk about 88 hospitals and later 111 hospitals was a knee jerk response to the plaudits the [former] President Mahama was receiving when it became clear that the investments he made in health care by expanding infrastructure in that sector had become the main thing in the fight against Covid.”

“President Akufo-Addo was keen to douse those plaudits and so he rushed to make a promise to build 88 district hospitals, in a state of frantic he said that the project will start in July 2020 and be completed in 12 months which is July 2021. Everybody disbelieved what he said. It was met with skepticism and derision and true to the predictions of Ghanaians, that project did not materialise.”

Mr. Ofosu Kwaakye told the host, Ernest Manu that President Akufo-Addo, however, did not have to wait for Covid-19 to make a significant impact in the health sector.

He added that even though the government had initially announced 22 district hospitals were to be started and completed within a year, not a single brick has been laid at any of the locations.

His comment comes after the government on Tuesday, August 17, launched its ambitious Agenda 111 policy to begin the construction of 101 district hospitals, six regional hospitals and two new psychiatric hospitals.

President Akufo-Addo together with some government officials broke grounds for the construction of the project to begin at Trede in the Ashanti Region.

The project when completed in 18 months, will deliver to each underserved district, a world-class health facility capable of attending to all major ailments.

However, Mr Ofosu Kwakye is questioning government’s ability to follow through with the Agenda 111 policy which he describes as a repackaged version of the promise to build 88 district hospitals.

According to him, the government had revealed that each hospital would cost about $17million to complete.

Thus, his calculation shows that government should have funding of about $1.5 billion if it wants to complete 88 district hospitals alone.

However, only $100 million is available as funding, which is about six per cent of the money needed to complete those projects, he said on Top Story, on Tuesday.

“Does this sound to you that the President is going to be able to deliver 111 hospitals in 18 months when he has only six per cent of the funding that is required? The thing that will convince us is the availability of money. We should ask him, where is the $1.6 billion that Agenda 111 needs.”