Sewua and Afari hospitals to be operational by August 2024 – Health Minister
The Ministry of Health has given an indication that the Sewua and Afari hospitals in the Ashanti Region would be operationalised latest by the end of August 2024.
The two facilities have been completed and equipped for more than a year now, but yet to be functional owing to power challenges.
“We realized the transformer installed in the facilities were not adequate to power the equipment when we started trials. So, we had to request for a new substation.
“Also, the road network to the Sewua hospital is in a poor state and needs to be fixed. These caused the delay in making the facilities operational”, Ashanti regional minister, Simon Osei-Mensah explained.
The Health Minister, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye has been touring the health facilities to assess the extent of work and find solutions to making Sewua and Afari hospitals functional.
The 250-bed health facility at Sewua is to be used as the regional hospital to ease the burden on Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
The facility, completed and equipped in 2022, is still not in use.
“The pressure on Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital can only be taken off when there are other facilities that can adequately serve the health needs of patrons. So, we are going to work with all stakeholders including the Energy Ministry, the Regional Coordinating Council and Ghana Health Service to make sure these projects are put to use. We are working hard to operationalize the hospitals latest by August, because Sewua and Afari hospitals alone will give us more than 700 beds”, Dr Okoe Boye assured.
At Bekwai Municipal hospital, the minister inspected the 120-bed capacity facility commissioned in November 2020.
He interacted with the health staff to understand their challenges and how to address them and improve on quality of healthcare delivery.
The Health Minister is on a 3-day working visit to Ashanti Region to inspect some health facility projects and engage with health staff.
