Dodowa District Hospital to be completed in July

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has promised to provide dedicated and quality health care to residents around the Shai-Osudoku District in the Greater Accra Region when the district hospital at Dodowa is opened in July.

The project which is part of the “Built To Care” programme would provide seven modern health centres at Dodowa, Fomena, Takoradi, Sekondi, Kumawu, Abetifi and Garu.

Mr Tony Goodman, Public Relations Officer of the MOH, told media personnel who toured the facility that the seven projects are being constructed at a cost of 175 million dollars with funding from Barclays Bank Plc and Cal Bank.

Mr Goodman said the NMS Infrastructure Limited is in-charge of the construction of the hospital facility, provision of the needed equipment and training of medical staff to man it. He said there is a three-year post completion warranty to the facility under construction.

Mr Goodman said the facility is in line with the MOH's resolve to build a hospital in every district in a bid to bring quality health care to the doorsteps of the people.

He said the Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service together with the Ministry is mobilising to deploy the needed personnel to the facility to ensure its utilisation from July.

Mr Goodman said the new hospital would be put to use immediately after construction to ease the pressure on the Shai-Osudoku Government Hospital.

Mr Damian Malins, Project Director, who took the media personnel around the site, gave the assurance that the facility would be fully completed in eight weeks.

He said the 85 per cent complete project would have an Out Patient Department, consulting rooms, physiotherapy department, emergency ward, operating and surgical theatres, clinical wards, maternity facility, among others.

He also announced that more than 43 two bedrooms houses for staff of the hospital would also be constructed as part of the project.

He noted that currently, 11 of those houses have been completed under the first phase.

Mr Malin said the Concrete Wall System, which is made up of polystyrene, wire mesh, concrete among others, has a low energy consumption pattern due to the high insulated panels used.

He said about 90 percent of the needed equipment has arrived in the country and is currently stored at the company's warehouse in Tema.

Touching on the extent of work done in the other six districts, he said 40 percent of work has so far been completed at Fomena, while the super structures for those at Kumawu and Abetifi are about to commence.

Construction of the staff accommodation was ongoing at Takoradi, while Sekondi is at the pre-construction stage and Garu awaiting the Environmental Protection Agency certificate for the start of the project.