An aspiring National Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Prempeh, has rejected claims that none of the Agenda 111 hospitals were completed under the Akufo-Addo administration, arguing that critics are failing to distinguish between completion and operationalisation.
Speaking on TV3’s New Day programme, Prempeh maintained that several of the health facilities were physically completed and equipped before the change of government but had not yet begun full operations.
According to him, the process of making a hospital functional extends beyond constructing the buildings and installing equipment.
“When you complete a hospital, operationalising it involves several additional things,” he explained.
“The hospital must be there, the equipment must be there, but if you do not have doctors, nurses and staff, you cannot use it,” he added.
Prempeh stressed that many of the Agenda 111 facilities already have the necessary infrastructure and equipment in place.
“The hospital is there. The facility is there. The equipment is inside. It becomes a matter of staffing and operationalising it,” he said.
He argued that once construction and equipping are completed, the responsibility shifts to ensuring the facilities are staffed and ready to serve the public.
“It is a matter of getting staff in there and working the last mile to ensure the facility can be used,” he noted.
The NPP figure further contended that suggestions that the hospitals were unfinished do not accurately reflect the progress made under the project.
“As a matter of completion, the hospitals have been completed,” Prempeh stated.
Agenda 111 was launched by the Akufo-Addo administration to address gaps in healthcare infrastructure across the country through the construction of district, regional and specialised hospitals.
The project has remained a subject of political debate, with critics questioning the pace of implementation and the operational status of some facilities, while supporters argue that significant progress was made before the transition of government.
Prempeh’s comments add to the ongoing discussion over the state of the hospitals and the next steps required to make them fully functional and accessible to Ghanaians.
