Kwabena Mintah Akandoh with the Ashanti Regional Minister and some leaders on one of the tours

The Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has stated that none of the Agenda 111 hospitals commissioned during the previous government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is operational.

Speaking during an inspection tour of the projects in the Ashanti Region on March 3, 2025, at the Atwima Kwanwoma Municipal Hospital in Trede, he stated that President John Dramani Mahama had tasked him with inspecting the projects.

According to him, upon his inspection, he observed that construction is still ongoing; hence, the hospitals are not yet operational.

“I have been directed by the President to transfer the Agenda 111 hospitals from the presidency to the Ministry of Health and also to oversee their completion.

“Where I am standing is one of the hospitals, and when it comes to hospitals, it is not just about the building alone but also the necessary facilities and staff that make up a functional hospital. Upon our inspection, we cannot call this place a hospital because construction is still ongoing," he sai.

He added that, “Based on the briefing I received from the same consultant employed by the previous government, none of the hospitals have been completed,” he said.

Meanwhile President John Dramani Mahama has disclosed that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government completed only one of the Agenda 111 projects it started.

According to Mahama, the one hospital the Akufo-Addo government managed to complete out of the about 100 hospitals it promised was empty, without even a single piece of furniture in it.

The president made these remarks while criticising the decision of the previous government to complete hospitals at places where there were existing mission hospitals.

He pointed out that rather than starting the construction of new health facilities, the Akufo-Addo administration should have collaborated with faith-based organisations to make their existing health facilities better.

The president indicated that one of the solutions to completing the project will be for faith-based organisations to take up some of them.

He said that the missions can take some of the uncompleted Agenda 111 projects, complete them, and manage them.

About Agenda 111

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the construction of the facilities on August 17, 2021, with a promise to complete the work within 18 months.

The plan to construct the hos­pitals was first announced in the 8th COVID-19 national address, on April 26, 2020, by the president months after the Coronavirus pan­demic hit Ghana.

It was initially “Agenda 88” but the government later revised it to “Agenda 111.”

The 23 additional facilities included 13 more district hospitals.

The standard 100-bed facilities which will be in districts without hospitals will also have accommoda­tion for staff.

Beneficiary regions and respec­tive breakdown are Ashanti, 10; Volta, nine; Eastern, eight; Greater Accra, seven; Upper East, seven; Oti, five; Upper West, five; Bono, five; Western North, five; Savanna, three; Bono East, two; and North East, two.

The remaining are six region­al hospitals in the newly-created regions, two specialised hospitals in the middle and northern belts, as well as a regional hospital in the Western Region and renovation of the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital.