The projects; Sege, Ogbojo, Oduman, Ashiaman and Bortianor polyclinics which are about 80 per cent complete are expected to augment healthcare infrastructure in the capital while improving access to quality healthcare for residents in such areas.

The 13.5 million Euros projects funded through a loan facility contracted from the Austrian government is expected to be handed over to government by December this year.

During a tour yesterday by Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu to assess progress of work on the projects, it was observed that state-of-the-arts facilities including washrooms, male and female wards, x-ray and laboratory rooms as well as nurses and doctors quarters were almost complete.

The Minister who expressed satisfaction on work done so far indicated that the coming on board of the five polyclinics was in line with government vision to decentralise healthcare services across the country.

For instance, he noted that residents living in Sege who had to travel to Tema to access the nearest health facility would now heave a sigh of relief when the polyclinic was operationalised.

Mr. Agyemang-Manu submitted that all technical equipments to kick the clinics running once it came into operation had been secured and “would have been fixed by the time it is opened.”

“We are also in talks with the District Assemblies to facilitate the furnishing of places such as the doctors and nurses quarters so to make it attractive for personnel posted here,” he noted.

Touching on the some abandoned health projects in an interview, the Minister clarified that “such projects are mostly quasi-health projects being undertaken by an institution with our support and might have been halted but not the Ministry’s projects.”

“No project under the Ministry has been abandoned because that will undermine our vision to promote quality healthcare among Ghanaians.

There are some that are being audited like the Kumawu hospital to reconcile the work done so far with the money that had gone into them but they have not been abandoned,” he stressed.

The Minister charged contractors to expedite finishing touches on the projects so as to meet the set deadline for completion.

He further directed the district assemblies to protect lands around the project sites from encroachment and negative behaviours such as open defecation saying, “in future we may have to expand these polyclinics into fully-fledged hospitals so the assemblies must ensure they are well secured.”

Mr. Albert Tackie, Branch Manager for Vamed Engineering Group, contractors of the five polyclinics assured of completing the projects within the stipulated time frame.

Throwing more light on work done, Mr. Tackie stated that all five polyclinics had disability features to provide easy access to all manner of persons.

By Abigail Annoh