The government has set a March 2024 completion and operationalization target for the 500-bed Afari Military Hospital in the Ashanti Region, marking a significant milestone as contractors restart construction following the government’s funding commitment.
The successful completion of the 500-bed Afari Military Hospital would relieve pressure on the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), the Ashanti Region’s largest referral hospital. The residents of the area have continuously requested the government to speed up the implementation of this critical faculty.
Work on the hospital had stalled for a period due to financial constraints, even though the project is approximately 90 percent ready, with key facilities such as the Out-Patient Departments and other theaters ready for use.
Presidential Adviser on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare, expresses confidence that the project will be completed and open to the public by March 2024.
During a working visit to the project site on Monday, December 4, 2023, Dr. Nsiah Asare stated, “The project was stopped for some time because of clearing some financial issues between the Ministry of Finance, Defence, and the Contractor. Thank God, we were able to resolve it, and the Contractor has been resourced to relocate to the site. Afari Hospital, God willing, by the first quarter of next year, no one will be talking about Afari Hospital. You are relocating here for great healthcare. Based on the progress we’ve witnessed in the last week, I’m confident this facility will be completed by March.”
Contractors are presently cleaning the site to restore full operations, removing overgrown weeds caused by the construction suspension.
Ahmed Abu Shamaa, Project Resident Engineer, indicates that the main equipment is ready for installation.
Abraham Dwomoh Odoom, Country Manager for Euroget de-Invest, confirms the government’s financial commitment to the project’s completion.
He expressed gratitude to the Ministries of Finance, Defence, and Health, as well as the Government, for ensuring that financing concerns for the project were resolved for contractors to return to the site.
Dr. Nsiah Asare also said that the government intends to open new health facilities in the Ashanti Region in 2024.
The hospital has 50 medical and non-medical buildings, 15 operating theatres, two endoscopic operating rooms, nine birth rooms, a 157-body capacity mortuary, 64 staff housing units, a medical gas plant for medical gas production and a sterilisation department.
