Building of 94 hospitals in a year unrealistic - Prof. Bokpin refutes Akufo-Addo

According to the respected economist, such a cost-intensive promise would need more time to be completed.

Speaking on the Joy Super Morning Show in Accra, he posits that: "Are we in the position to absorb such a massive cost? Particularly from one sector, health?".

"During the pandemic, we were living from hand to mouth and whatever we were collecting by way of tax revenue was essentially just wages and interest payments".

Prof Bokpin maintained that the plan would be difficult to execute especially with the “international capital market practically on hold”.

 President Akufo-Addo disclosed on Sunday night in his 8th address to the nation said: "There are eighty-eight (88) districts in our country without district hospitals; we have six (6) new regions without regional hospitals; we do not have 5 infectious disease control centers dotted across the country, and we do not have enough testing and isolation centers 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.”

Breaking down the distribution of the hospitals the president added that “It will mean ten (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.”