The Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has attributed the delay in opening the 120-bed Weija Children’s Specialist Hospital to the contractor’s inability to complete outstanding works and officially hand over the facility to the Ministry.

Addressing Parliament on Wednesday, July 8, Mr Akandoh said the government is ready to operationalise the hospital once all pending issues are resolved.

According to him, although the full complement of staff required to manage the facility has already been recruited, the hospital cannot begin operations because some critical components, including the installation of medical equipment, are yet to be completed.

He explained that the World Bank-funded project also faced procurement-related challenges during construction, which contributed to the delay.

"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.

The Health Minister disclosed that the Ministry has held several engagements with the contractor to address the outstanding matters.

He said another meeting has been scheduled for July 10 after the contractor requested to be physically present for the final discussions.

"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 stated.

Mr Akandoh rejected suggestions that the government was deliberately delaying the opening of the hospital, insisting that assessments by the Ghana Health Service confirmed that parts of the project remain incomplete.

He assured Parliament that the Ministry is prepared to immediately put the facility into use once the contractor completes the handover process.

"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," he added.

The Minister’s explanation comes about two months after the Ministry of Health indicated that the Children’s Specialist Hospital would become operational within weeks.

Residents of Weija-Gbawe had earlier staged a demonstration in May to demand the immediate opening of the fully furnished paediatric facility, citing the urgent need for improved healthcare services in the area.