COVID-19: Akufo-Addo promises 88 new hospitals

President Akufo-Addo says government will soon commence the construction of hospitals in the 88 districts in the country without hospitals.

According to the President, the coronavirus pandemic has exposed the massive gap in health infrastructure in the country and the need for government to attend to it.

“There are 88 districts in our country without hospitals. We have six new regions without regional hospitals. We do not have infectious disease control centres dotted across the country and we don’t have enough testing and isolation centres for diseases like COVID-19. We must do something urgently about this,” the President during his updates on Ghana’s situation on the COVID-19 pandemic Sunday.

He said: “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 88 hospitals in the districts without hospitals. It will mean 10 in Ashanti, nine in Volta, nine in Central, eight in Eastern, seven in Greater Accra, seven in Upper East, five in Northern, five in Oti, five in Upper West, five in Bono, four in Western North, four in Western, three in Ahafo, three in Savannah, two in Bono East and two in North-Easter regions.

“Each of them, will be a quality, standard design 100-bed hospital with accommodation for doctors, nurses and other health workers and the intention is to complete them within a year”.

Coronavirus death toll in Ghana now stands at 11 with 1,550 infections, the Ghana Health Service has announced.

This means 271 new cases have been confirmed since the last count which stood at 1,279.

Starr News sources say a new positive case has been confirmed in the Ashanti region bringing the regional total 70. GHS officials in the region say the new case is yet to be added to the national figure.

Below is the regional breakdown of cases

Meanwhile, The Minister of Health has directed all food vendors, commercial vehicle drivers and other selected group of individuals to always wear face mask as part of efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

In a statement Saturday, the Minister also directed the use of face mask in all public places where social distancing will be difficult.

“The Minister of Health hereby directs the use of face masks in all public places where it may be difficult to maintain social distancing. The general public is encouraged to wear mask or face covering when going out whether sick or not or attending to a sick person. Incorrect use of face mask carries a high risk of infection,” the directive said.