Minister Exposes President Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama last Tuesday delivered the State of the Nation address and assured Ghanaians that work was ongoing with the construction of twelve (12) new District Hospitals but surprisingly, the Health Minister, Ms. Hanny Sherry Ayittey has shot down that claim revealing that those projects have been put on ice. �Mr. Speaker, our policy is to provide every district with a modern health facility. The newly constructed Tarkwa Hospital has been equipped and is now open for use. This has improved the quality of health for people in that catchment area. Work is ongoing on twelve (12) new district hospitals, including Dodowa, Sekondi, Fomena and Garu Tempane, while financing for an extra nine (9) are being concluded�, the President stated on the floor of Parliament last Tuesday. However, in a sharp contrast and coincidentally also on the floor of Parliament, the Health Minister on Thursday disclosed that Government had suspended plans to construct the new district hospitals across the country until further notice. "Currently we have received a letter from the Ministry of Finance that all such programmes should be put on hold,� the Health Minister told the House. The same projects were captured by President Mahama when he delivered his first State of the Nation address on Thursday, 21, 2013. The Finance Minister subsequently announced in the 2013 budget that government was going to build district hospitals nationwide as part of efforts to improve upon health delivery in the country. According to a source, the letter from the Finance Ministry had been dispatched to the Health Ministry days before the President presented the State of the Nation Address and so it was surprising President Mahama could still go ahead to give assurance that the projects were underway in sharp contrast to the reality.