Gov’t hands over 10,000 Hospital Beds to GHS

President Akufo-Addo has handed over some ten thousand (10,000.00) beds to the Ghana Health Service (GHS), to boost the bed capacity of health facilities throughout the country.

Addressing a ceremony to handover the beds to the Ghana Health Service through the Ministry of Health, at the Air Force Base, Burma Camp, where the items were warehoused, President Akufo-Addo said the initiative is aimed at eliminating the ‘no bed’ syndrome in Ghanaian hospitals and also a fulfillment of his government’s 2016 campaign promise as part of the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) especially goals 1,2,3,6 and 12.

“It is always disconcerting to see patients being treated in wheelchairs, plastic chairs and even on the floors because of the unavailability of beds. Government’s determination to see an end to this ‘no bed’ syndrome has resulted in the decision to procure these hospitals beds and their associated accessories for distribution across the country to augment the existing numbers in the country,” President Akufo-Addo said.

“In total, one thousand, five hundred (1,500) critical care beds with overhead tables, two thousand (2,000) pieces of standard hospital beds with bedside lockers, four thousand pieces of health centre beds with bedside lockers, one thousand pieces of children’s cots, and one thousand, five hundred pieces of delivery beds have been purchased,” President Akufo-Addo added.

The beds, according to the President, are to be distributed to hospitals in all two hundred and seventy-five constituencies in the country. The President urged users and hospital staff where the beds are to be sent, to take good care of same in order to prolong the lifespan of their use.

The Minister for Special Initiatives, Hawa Coomson, in a brief remark noted that her ministry with the support of the Health Ministry, will ensure fair and equitable distribution of the beds throughout the country. She registered her ministry’s appreciation to the Ghana Armed Forces for warehousing the beds for the state.

According to Madam Coomson, her ministry is committed to putting in place socio-economic priority programmes under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (PEP), which seeks to provide the much needed infrastructure at the constituency level.

“The delivery of the 10,000 hospital beds is another landmark achievement of government to improve health care in Ghana under the leadership of the President of the Republic and the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,” the Special Initiatives Minister said.

The Ministry of Special Development Initiatives (MSDI) is essentially, established to formulate and implement policies, plans and programmes for the implementation of government’s priority initiatives and projects through the three development authorities namely, Northern Development Authority (NDA), Middle Belt Development Authority (MBDA) and Costal Development Authority (CODA).