Massive encroachment endangers Kintampo City of Health Project

The Kintampo City of Health Project is in danger of massive land encroachment.

Some of the encroachers are engaging in farming while others have constructed buildings on the land, Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, Lead Consultant on the project, had said.

Prof. Adarkwa, who was speaking at a second phase of stakeholders meeting at Kintampo in the Brong-Ahafo Region, expressed fear about the extent of the encroachment.

He said without dealing with the situation designs of the master plan for the implementation of the project cannot be finalised.

Dr. Emmanuel Teye Adjase, Rector of the College of Health and Well-Being-Kintampo (CoHK) said the facility has a clear vision to develop to become a world-class health university that responds to the health needs of communities with core values such as service to humanity, commitment to duty, respect for human life, self-discipline, teamwork, craving for excellence, creativity and collaboration.

He said the institution also has a guiding principle of developing human resources capable of providing health services that is simple in operation, extensive in scope, economic in cost and yet efficient.

The mission of CoHK is, therefore, to educate and train well-motivated, knowledgeable and skillful health professionals who are capable of providing quality services to all people in all settings, especially in remote, deprived and underserved communities, he added.

CoHK trains physician assistants, technical/health officers, field technicians and other allied health care personnel who provide 75 per cent of the primary health care in Ghana, particularly to rural and marginalised population groups.

The school has acquired 3000 acres of land from its internally generated fund to be developed into a modern hub of academic institution of health education and training city complex.

Part of the land would be used for afforestation, field/demonstration sites for practical teaching and skills acquisition for students and community members.

Messrs Brian Y. Rivette and Louis Zunguze, two project experts from Salt Lake City, State of Utah in the United States, attended the meeting.

Some participants interviewed by Ghana News Agency after the meeting called for the immediate intervention of National Security and the Regional Security Council to clamp down on the encroachers of the school’s land.