Today in History: I almost got coronavirus when Nana Addo promised 88 hospitals in his address – JOY

On April 29, 2020, the independent Presidential Candidate in the 2016 election Jacob Osei Yeboah noted that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s claims to build some 88 hospitals in the country in a year nearly got him infected with the COVID-19 disease.

He said building an unplanned 88 hospitals in 2020 is like a fool’s paradise promise when roads promised in 2020 cannot be fulfilled.

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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has outlined plans by the government to build 94 hospitals across the 16 regions of the country.

The health project comprises 88 district hospitals expected to be completed within a year, and six regional hospitals.

The President made the announcement after the COVID-19 pandemic that has infected 1,550 in total with 155 recoveries and 11 deaths.

The promise, according to the only Independent Presidential Candidate in the 2016 general election, Jacob Osei Yeboah, affectionately called JOY, almost gave him the deadly novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

“Building unplanned 88 district hospitals in 2020 is like fool’s paradise promise when roads promised in 2020 cannot be fulfilled,” he said on Happy FM’s EpaHoaDaben show with Kwame Afrifa-Mensah.

He added that: “Kwame, I almost got the coronavirus listening to the President yesterday when he promised to build the 88 district hospitals this year. Remember the first quarter of the year is gone, April is ending, and he only has eight months to build the said hospitals. Where is he going to get the money from? Meanwhile, he has already promised 2020 is going to be a year of roads, show us the number of roads he has so far constructed.”

President Akufo-Addo in his eighth address to the nation on measures being undertaken by the government to contain the fast-spreading virulent infection said:

“There are 88 districts in our country without district hospitals; we have six (6) new regions without regional hospitals; we do not have five infectious disease control centres dotted across the country, and we do not have enough testing and isolation centres for diseases like COVD-19. We must do something urgently about this. That is why the Government has decided to undertake a major investment in our healthcare infrastructure, the largest in our history. We will, this year, begin constructing eighty-eight (88) hospitals in the districts without hospitals,” the President said.

He added that: “It will mean (10) in Ashanti, nine (9) in Volta, nine (9) in Central, eight (8) in Eastern, seven (7) in Greater Accra, seven (7) in Upper East, five (5) in Northern, five (5) in Oti, five (5) in Upper West, five (5) in Bono, four (4) in Western North, four (4) in Western, three (3) in Ahafo, three (3) in Savannah, two (2) in Bono East, and two (2) in North East Regions.”