Member of Parliament for Yilo Krobo Constituency, Albert Tetteh Nyakotey is demanding the immediate utilisation of the newly constructed Yilo Krobo District Hospital.

According to him, the Hospital which was completed in early 2021 has been left idle while residents in the constituency struggle to access health care.

Speaking to the media during a trip to the Hospital, Mr Nyakotey said that the existing health centre in the area is pressured not only because it is small, but people from every part of the constituency use it as well.

“So I had the opportunity to file a question to ask the Health Minister to come and open the hospital and he said it will be opened soon. I think that was in June, up till today the place is lying idle.”

“I am taking the opportunity to call on the government that this hospital must be opened soon for our people to get health care. If we keep it like this then we are actually causing financial loss to the state."

This comes after some other NDC members on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health visited numerous health facilities across the country in different stages of completion, including the Yilo Krobo District Hospital.

The 120-bed health facility, which was completed in January this year and handed over to the government is yet to be put to its intended use. 

JoyNews checks at the facility reveal installation of medical equipment, fully furnished administration block and a standby ambulance. 

According to Mr Nyakotey, he is sad that nothing is being done to reopen the facility, especially since a technical handover has been done and health care providers, including doctors and nurses have already been recruited for the facility.

“I have even spoken to some of the nurses who have been taken to the smaller healthcare facility to wait for the reopening of this place. There is no reason why we shouldn’t open this place. If we put so much money here, why should we keep it closed when our people do not have access to healthcare?”

Meanwhile, The Ranking Member on the Health Committee, Kwabena Minkah Akandoh says the Minority in Parliament will consider filing a private member motion to compel the government to complete abandoned health facilities across the country.

According to him, these facilities, left at the mercy of the weather, are causing financial loss to the state.

Mr Akandoh made this known to JoyNews’ Evans Mensah after he and other members on the Health Committee began the assessment tour to apprise themselves of the status of work on the projects which have stalled since the NDC left power in 2017.

The MPs say they were left in shock at the deteriorating conditions of the health facilities despite millions of dollars being sunk into them.

The tour has already taken the team to the Fomena, Kumawu, Abetifi, Afari military hospital and Somanya abandoned facilities.

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