The Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has said the long-awaited opening of the 120-bed Children's Specialist Hospital at Weija has been delayed because the contractor has yet to officially hand over the completed facility to the Ministry of Health.

Addressing Parliament on Wednesday, 8th July, the Minister explained that although the Ministry has already recruited the full complement of staff required to operate the hospital, some outstanding works, including the installation of medical equipment, have not been completed.

Mr Akandoh stated that the project, which was funded by the World Bank, experienced procurement-related challenges during construction, contributing to the delays.

"Mr. Speaker, I inherited the project. It’s a World Bank-funded project, and in the course of the construction, the World Bank raised issues of what we call misprocurement, and so we had to deal with the issues of misprocurement," he told Parliament.

According to the Minister, the Ministry has held several engagements with the contractor to address the remaining issues. He disclosed that a final meeting has been scheduled for 10th July after the contractor requested to be present in person before the outstanding matters are concluded.

"The last meeting will take place on the 10th of this month. The contractor is not in the country at the moment, and it was his request to be available personally for us to conclude the outstanding matters," he said.

Mr Akandoh dismissed claims that the government was intentionally delaying the commissioning of the hospital. He explained that inspections conducted by the Ghana Health Service confirmed that parts of the facility were still incomplete, making it impossible for the Ministry to take over the project.

Despite the delay, he assured Parliament that the hospital could begin serving patients almost immediately after it is officially handed over because the necessary workforce is already in place.

"I can assure you that if the project is handed over this morning, within the next 24 hours, we don’t even need any fanfare. We will commission the project because we have the full complement of staff for that particular facility," Mr. Akandoh added.

The Minister's comments come just two months after the Ministry of Health's spokesperson, Tony Goodman, announced that the Children's Specialist Hospital would become operational within two to three weeks.

That assurance followed mounting public concern over the continued closure of the fully furnished facility. In May, residents of the Weija-Gbawe Municipality staged a demonstration, calling on the government to open the hospital without further delay.

Once operational, the 120-bed Children's Specialist Hospital is expected to enhance specialist paediatric healthcare services, improve access to quality treatment for children and help ease pressure on existing health facilities in the Greater Accra Region.