Government is yet to commence work on three pending hospital projects in the Ashanti Region despite assurance they will be completed by the end of this year.

Checks reveal works on a proposed regional hospital at Sawua in the Bosomtwe District, for instance,  as well as other district facilities, have been abandoned.

Weeds have taken over the structures which are at advanced stages of completion.

The 250-bed regional hospital at Sawua in the Bosomtwe District is almost complete.

Security guards will not allow journalists to get too close to the $64 million project site, however, it is clear even from a distance that the contractor, Euroget De-Invest, is not on site.

Some residents of Sawua have raised concerns over the delay to complete the project that was scheduled for completion in 2016.

“When they started this project, we were told  it will be completed in 18 months now it is more than 2 years," a resident said.

Adwoa Amankwaa, mother of three also noted, “the Sawua Hospital will really help us especially we the mothers, at least it will serve as the first port  of call when we need health care.”

Ashanti Region Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, led a team of journalists to the site last year where he urged the Resident Engineer to meet the 2018 deadline.

He was confident that the regional health facility will reduce the pressure on Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).

Mr Ahmed Aly, who conducted the media around the hospital facility promised the Contractor will deliver the property in  2018.

“We have made a lot of progress and we are very much on course to deliver the project on schedule, ”he explained. But halfway through the year, Nhyira News checks on the site revealed the project has stalled.

Another facility, a 190-bed capacity for the Bekwai Municipal Hospital is rotting away, having been abandoned since 2013.

No effort has been made to complete the facility that was started by the late Prof. Evans Atta Mills in 2010 in fulfilment of an election campaign promise to the people of Bekwai, despite several appeals by the chief and residents of Bekwai.

On completion, the 190-bed capacity facility will ease the pressure on the old Bekwai District Hospital and enhance healthcare delivery in and around the Bekwai Municipality

Afari, near Nkawie in the Atwima Nwabiagya District, is the site for a 500-bed military hospital which is also far behind schedule.

Construction work began in March 2014 and was expected to be completed by September 2017.