It has emerged that the University of Ghana Medical Center has a standby generator, contrary to claims made by Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman Manu.

The ultra-modern facility which was commissioned by former President John Mahama in January 2017 has its first phase complete but remains idle two years after.

The Health Minister had said the facility was not in use because it lacks certain essential facilities like standby generators.

He explained that the authorities could not run the equipment in the hospital due to the fluctuations in power from the national grid.

“You cannot run MRIs and imaging equipment on the national grid that sees the surveillance of going up and down like that. The backup [standby] generator is not there yet…” he said at the World Health Day in Accra last Wednesday. 

Contrary to this, however, Joy News can confirm that the standby generators are available.

“There are two huge generator sets mounted on the premises of the facility,” Joy News' Matilda Wemegah reported.

"These are supposed to be the backup power supply to the UG Medical Center," she added.

Meanwhile, Former Deputy Health Minister Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, says the Mr Agyemang-Manu is to blame for the state of the health facility.

“He is the incompetent reason why the facility is not working,” Mr Mettle-Nunoo.

“When you do your trial run of the whole facility, you make sure your oxygen systems are working, your gases are working, your electrical systems are working that is when the system is compliant with what it was established to do,” he stressed.