Member of Parliament (MP) for Nabdam in the Upper East region, Mr Mark Kurt Nawaane, has criticized the government for the lack of essential equipment in hospitals, attributing it to the mismanagement of resources allocated to the healthcare system.
Mr Nawaane stated that hospitals in Ghana should be adequately equipped with all the necessary tools to address major health issues, given the amount of money allocated to the health sector annually.
Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show on February 1, he placed blame on various stakeholders, including politicians and technocrats, for the persistent issues in the health sector. He emphasized the need for transparency and accountability in the utilization of health sector funds.
His comments were prompted by a recent JoyNews documentary titled “Sick Hospitals,” which revealed the lack of basic equipment, such as a defibrillator, at the Effia Nkwanta Hospital.
On the same show, the Deputy Ranking Member of the Health Committee in Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, also criticized the government’s focus on the Agenda 111 hospital initiative. He argued that the $200 million spent on the initiative has not resulted in any additional hospital beds, highlighting the need to improve existing hospitals instead.
Mr Akandoh criticized the government for the lack of progress in adding hospital beds and questioned the priorities set for the use of health sector funds.
“Since we started, we spent almost $200 million on Agenda 111, and we have not added a single bed in terms of the number of beds in the country. We have not been able to do that, so we ask ourselves, what are our aims?” he stated on the show.
“What do we want to solve? And you realize that, as a nation, honestly speaking, we are not putting our priorities right. We are simply getting everything wrong, and we are applauding when we should be condemning. This is what is happening in the country in the health sector,” he added.
