Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, former Minister of Health, addresses the press conference for GAD
By Bright Philip Donkor
A youth-led civic and professional coalition, representing all sixteen regions of Ghana, the Ghana Amalgam for Development (GAD), has voiced serious concern over the deteriorating state of the nation’s health infrastructure under the NDC administration led by President John Dramani Mahama.
Speaking during a press conference yesterday, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, former Minister of Health, representing GAD, pointed to stalled projects and unpaid contractors as major indicators of governmental neglect. He cited the La General Hospital Redevelopment Project as a key example, noting that it had remained incomplete for nearly twelve months.
“The La General Hospital was demolished following a structural integrity assessment conducted by the Ghana Health Service, which declared the old facility a death trap, unfit to accommodate patients, especially as they are already vulnerable to illness. The decision to bring it down was therefore one of safety, necessity and compassion for the people it served,” Dr. Okoe Boye explained.
Redevelopment
He explained that the redevelopment of the La General Hospital was launched on August 10, 2020, with an estimated cost of €68 million, financed through a bilateral agreement between the governments of Ghana and China. Standard Chartered Bank of the United Kingdom served as financier while Sinosure acted as the export credit guarantor.
Dr. Okoe Boye noted that the project suffered disruptions due to the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, which halted funding from the Chinese facility. To prevent total abandonment, he said, the previous NPP government continued financing the project using government funds, and honoured all Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs) raised by the contractor.
He mentioned that the last IPC under the NPP administration was processed in October 2024, after which two additional IPCs were submitted to the Ministry of Health.
“However, ladies and gentlemen of the press, it is regrettable to note that this current NDC administration which secured an overwhelming majority of parliamentary seats in the Greater Accra Region has failed to release single cedi to the contractor. For nearly twelve months, not even Ten Ghana cedis has been paid since the last IPCs were received and processed,” he revealed.
Inaction
The former Health Minister, therefore, criticized the government for inaction, despite having campaigned on the promise of completing the hospital.
The failure to release funds, he said, had had devastating social consequences, with nearly 90 percent of the workforce of over 200 young men and women from La, Teshie, Osu, and Ododiodioo laid off.
“Many of these young people voted overwhelmingly for the NDC and President John Dramani Mahama, believing in the promise of a three-shift twenty-four hour economy. Sadly, they have not even enjoyed one hour of work from the very government they supported, leaving many disillusioned and economically stranded,” he said.
Dr. Okoe Boye emphasised the hospital’s strategic role as a “wet land” for emergency transfers from 37 Military Hospital, LEKMA Hospital, Police Hospital, Ridge Hospital and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. He cautioned that the continued delay in its reconstruction was not only an infrastructural failure but a public health emergency that endangered lives daily.
He acknowledged the current Minister of Health’s visit to the site on October 10, 2025 and the government’s reported commitment to release GHC130 million.
Dr. Okoe Boye, however, stressed that “commitment alone does not pay debt. Good intentions must translate into concrete action. To date, not a single cedi of this pledged amount has been released, and the contractor remains unpaid. We fear that any actual financial provision may only find expression in the 2026 Budget, further prolonging the suffering of residents in these coastal communities.”
On behalf of GAD, he called on the Minister of Health to escalate the matter to the President and Cabinet with urgency, asserting that “the people of La, Teshie, Osu and the entire coastal belt deserve a functioning hospital not more promises. Government must move beyond words to action, by releasing funds to enable the immediate resumption and completion of the La General Hospital. The health of our citizens cannot be mortgaged to political delay.”
Imperative
Dr. Okoe Boye further described that the completion of the hospital as a moral, social and humanitarian imperative.
He urged the government to honour its contractual obligations, safeguard essential digital health systems, and ensure continuous monitoring until project completion.
“Every delay costs lives; every silence deepens despair. Let this not be another chapter of neglect, but the dawn of accountability. Ghana’s health cannot wait, and the people will not stop demanding action until every abandoned hospital stands complete, every system restored, and every promise fulfilled,” he said.
About The Author
