The Honourable Minister for Special Development Initiative, Mavis Hawa Koomson, has stated that the Akufo-Addo Government is in the process of procuring 10,000 hospital beds for various health centres across the country.
Speaking on the back of the successful procurement and commissioning of the 307 ambulances to augment the few ones in the country, the Minister emphasized that Government has seen the need to procure these beds to fill the various hospitals, polyclinics, clinics and other health facilities across the country.
‘’Having completed the acquisition of these 307 ambulances, we see it needful to look at another critical area in our health delivery, and that is lack of hospital beds. We are, therefore, procuring ten thousand of these beds for our various health facilities since we have identified shortages in that area’’ she said.
Many hospitals and other health facilities have been complaining about inadequate beds for patients who patronize hospitals, polyclinics, clinics and other health centres. The decision to provide the 10,000 beds has been precipitated by the reported incidents of patients having been forced to sleep on the floor when they attend hospitals due to inadequate beds.
Mavis Hawa Koomson who is also a Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya East Constituency made this known when she appeared on Asempa FM’s afternoon talk show, Ekosii Sen on Wednesday, 29th January, 2020, with Philip Osei Bonsu as host of the programme.
The Ministry of Special Development Initiative, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health saw to the procurement and acquisition of the fully equipped 307 ambulances under the One Constituency, One Ambulance promise by the Akufo-Addo administration.
Though the ambulances were procured in collaboration with the Health Ministry, Hawa Koomson spearheaded it. Prior to the arrival of all the 307 ambulances and their subsequent distributions to the various constituencies, the Special Development Initiative Minister received flak for the delay in the processes.
Though the ambulances’ procurement has been hailed as unprecedented, the Member of Parliament believes going a step further to procure 10,000 beds would go a long way into helping to improve healthcare delivery in the country.