Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee, Dr. Mark Kurt Nawaane, has raised serious concerns over the stalled progress of the government’s flagship Agenda 111 hospital project, warning that without major financial intervention, the initiative could take up to two decades to complete.
Speaking in an interview with Bolgatanga-based A1 Radio, the Nabdam MP said the ambitious programme — launched in 2021 to expand healthcare access nationwide — has been crippled by funding constraints and shifting government spending priorities.
According to him, while several hospital structures have reached advanced stages of construction, most remain non-functional due to the absence of critical medical equipment and personnel. “Practically all of them do not have the equipment,” Dr. Nawaane noted.
He cited the Trede Hospital as an example, revealing that the facility requires about GH₵140 million to procure the necessary equipment before it can operate. “That’s just one facility,” he stressed, indicating the scale of financial commitment needed to make the projects viable.
Dr. Nawaane, who has consistently questioned the project’s financing model, said the government’s reliance on private investment without clear repayment guarantees was unrealistic. “The private investors they counted on are business people — they won’t put in money when they don’t know when they’ll be paid,” he said.
He added that the Ministry of Health currently lacks a concrete roadmap to complete the hospitals, warning that future administrations will also struggle to mobilize the billions of cedis required to finish all 111 projects.
“No government will come and be able to raise enough money to complete it as fast as people are thinking,” he said, emphasizing that visible progress on building sites does not mean the hospitals are ready for use.
Dr. Nawaane’s comments reignite debate about the sustainability of the Agenda 111 initiative — one of Ghana’s most ambitious public health infrastructure projects under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo — and whether it can realistically deliver the promised facilities in the near term.
