Expect another showdown if La General hospital is not captured in 2024 budget – Odododiodio MP

The Member of Parliament for Odododiodio Constituency, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, has threatened to stage a protest together with the minority caucus and the residents of La and Ga Mashie if the government fails to include funding for the La General Hospital in the 2024 budget.

The La General Hospital was demolished in July 2020 due to severe structural problems reported by the hospital administration.

Following the demolition of the health facility, President Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the commencement of construction of the La General Hospital Redevelopment Project on August 10, 2020, but work has still not yet begun.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, November 7, the Chairman of the Greater Accra caucus of the Minority said, “I am assuring you that, if we don’t see it in the 2024 budget, we will not make the budget in this house come out. We will make sure that sitting will be disrupted until we see the La General Hospital captured in the budget. We will show you that you are on our land. This will be another showdown”.

“We will make sure that the Minister of Health and the Minister of Finance will not enjoy the peace in their ministries. We are going to marshal the people of La and Ga Mashie to occupy your offices if you don’t work at the La General Hospital”.

The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has attributed the delay in the construction of the hospital to the withholding of funds by the facility’s sponsors.

In a statement to Parliament, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu explained that the sponsors withheld the funds following Ghana’s engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“Mr. Speaker, what has happened is that after the engagement with the IMF, funding from those sources that Parliament approved of has been withheld by the sponsors”.

“Mr. Speaker, until the nation is given a clean bill of health by the IMF, it is going to be difficult for the funding to be released. This is why the government now wants to situate it within the context of Agenda 111, and that will mean that the facility will have to be scaled down a bit,” Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said.

Weighing into the issue is the Member of Parliament (MP) for La Dadekotopon, Rita Naa Odeley Sowah, who has accused the government of toying with the lives of residents in her constituency following the abandonment of the construction of the La Dadekotopon General Hospital.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, is to appear before Parliament on Thursday, November 9, 2023, to answer questions about the delay in the re-construction of the General Hospital and to explain what led to the closure of the Renal Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.