Former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare has defended the Akufo-Addo administration's Agenda 111 hospital projects, insisting the initiative was strategically planned and should not be abandoned by the current government.

Speaking on the Joy Super Morning Show, Dr Nsiah-Asare explained that the government intended to finance the hospitals gradually, using revenue from oil proceeds and other revenue streams.

“You can propose projects based on expected revenue. When you look at the budget and how much oil revenue was expected to come in, it was clear the projects would be completed in phases,” he said.

According to him, the fact that the hospitals were not fully completed before the end of the previous administration did not justify halting the projects.

“It does not mean that when another government comes into office, they should abandon the projects. I do not agree with that,” he stressed.

Dr Nsiah-Asare noted that the previous administration adopted a phased approach because it did not have sufficient funds to complete all the hospitals at once.

“We did not have enough money to finish all the projects within that period, so we started and moved gradually,” he explained.

He revealed that many of the hospital projects had reached advanced stages of completion before the New Patriotic Party government left office.

“Most of the hospitals had reached between 80 and 90 per cent completion. Three of them were commissioned before we left office,” he stated.

He argued that if the projects had continued at the same pace, most of the hospitals would have been completed by now.

Dr Nsiah-Asare also cited land acquisition challenges as one of the major setbacks that delayed work on some projects, particularly in parts of Greater Accra.

“In places like Nima, we struggled for a long time to secure land for construction. It took us almost until the middle of 2024 before the site issues were resolved,” he disclosed.

He added that some contractors had pre-financed portions of the work with the expectation of reimbursement from the government.

“When we were leaving office, there were certificates worth about 100 million dollars waiting to be paid from the oil-backed funding arrangement,” he said.

Dr Nsiah-Asare questioned why the current administration had not used available resources to complete the projects after nearly 17 months in office.

“If the government wanted to continue the projects, most of them would have been completed by now,” he argued.

Dr Nsiah-Asare also criticised suggestions that private entities or state-owned enterprises should take over the operation of the hospitals, insisting that healthcare delivery remains the responsibility of the government.

“The health of the people is the responsibility of every serious government,” he said.

According to him, Agenda 111 represented a bold national investment intended to close the country’s healthcare infrastructure gap within a shorter period.

“We did not want Ghana to take another hundred years to bridge the healthcare gap, so we took a bold decision to invest oil revenues into major healthcare infrastructure,” he noted.

READ ALSO: Agenda 111: “It was not prudent to start 111 hospitals at once” – Mahama

He compared the initiative to large-scale legacy projects undertaken in countries such as the United Arab Emirates using proceeds from natural resources.

“That was exactly what we wanted to do for Ghana. When a new government comes, it inherits both assets and liabilities, so such projects should be continued,” he stated.

Dr Nsiah-Asare further questioned the government’s current infrastructure priorities, including the construction of 24-hour markets and new expressway projects.

“Is it more prudent to build markets across the country while major hospital projects remain incomplete?” he asked.

He also referenced the delayed dualisation of the Accra-Kumasi highway, arguing that unfinished road projects continue to contribute to road accidents.

“If you come into government, you must have a vision and pursue bold policies for national development,” he added.