President John Dramani Mahama has expressed satisfaction with the progress of work on the reconstruction of the La General Hospital, assuring that government will ensure the project is completed on schedule.

Speaking during an inspection of the site, the President said the project was advancing steadily and must not be allowed to stall.

“For a good job, the hospital is progressing quite well and we want to make sure that it doesn’t stall and that it continues and is delivered on due dates,” he said.

He disclosed that the contractor has given assurances that the facility will be ready for commissioning by November 2027.

“The contractor assures us that by November 2027, we should be able to commission this hospital,” he added.

President Mahama stressed the importance of the hospital, noting that its absence has placed significant pressure on other major health facilities, including the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, LEKMA Hospital, and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

“Since it was demolished and was no longer serving patients, all the patients who used to come here now go to the Ridge Hospital or they go to LEKMA or to Korle Bu,” he noted.

According to him, the new facility will provide an additional 160 beds, helping to address the persistent shortage of hospital beds, particularly in emergency situations.

“Currently, people complain that when they have emergencies, they are not able to get sufficient beds, so this hospital adds 160 more beds,” he explained.

The president also revealed that government has terminated the contract for the Police Hospital project, with plans to re-award it to ensure its swift completion.

“In the meantime, we have terminated the contract on the Police Hospital. We are going to re-award it so that we can finish it quickly and then create more bed space,” he said.

Addressing concerns about emergency care, President Mahama acknowledged the challenges patients face in accessing treatment, especially at night, and outlined measures to address the situation.

“Most of the time at night, finding a place for them to be treated has been difficult,” he said.

He announced plans to repurpose the emergency centre established at Burma Camp during the COVID-19 period into a dedicated emergency facility.

“We’re going to repurpose it so that it has beds for handling only emergencies. If there’s an emergency and a person is not accepted at any of these hospitals, the emergency centre in Burma Camp will be there,” he stated.

He explained that the facility will stabilise patients before they are transferred to other hospitals for further treatment.

“The emergency nurses and doctors will be there to stabilize the patient. Once the patient is stabilized, then we can move them to a regular hospital,” he added.

The president said the initiative forms part of broader efforts to tackle the “no-bed syndrome” and reduce preventable deaths.

He further highlighted the recently launched primary healthcare programme, describing it as a key intervention aimed at reducing hospital admissions through preventive care.

“They say prevention is better than a cure and so the primary healthcare will check your blood pressure, it will check your sugar level, and provide screenings so that we’re able to catch things at an early stage,” he said.

President Mahama emphasised that strengthening preventive healthcare would ease pressure on hospitals and improve service delivery.

He commended the contractor for the work done so far and expressed confidence that the completed facility will significantly improve healthcare access for residents of La and surrounding communities.

“We’ll be back here in November 2027 to take over this hospital, and I’m sure that the people of La and surrounding areas on that day will be very happy,” he concluded.