Government’s promise to complete and open at least the Outpatient Department of the La General Hospital by October this year may not materialize.
This is because work on the hospital project has come to a halt.
Information gathered by 3news suggests that the contractor has run out of funds, forcing the workers to vacate the site for about a week now.
The reconstruction of the La General Hospital has lingered since 2020 when President Akufo-Addo cut sod for the project after the old facility was demolished. After more than 3 years of a lull, construction started this year with an October deadline to open OPD services to indigenes of La.
That however will not be the case with workers abandoning the site over financial issues. The state of the project site when we visited on Monday October 28 afternoon was like that of a cemetery.
The 7-floor staff accommodation unit is almost completed, while the main hospital structure is at the ground floor level.
The workers are said to have left the site for about a week now since the work stalled. A former administrator at the La General Polyclinic before its demolition, Chris Anang, expressed disappointment.
‘’I have been here from the onset, and I am sad. Look, they shouldn’t have demolished the old structure in the first place. They have not been working for some time now. And I hear there is no funds to continue. The workers have all left. They were initially going to work on another road project somewhere around the Burma camp and return in the night but now they don’t anymore. Nothing is happening. And it’s very disappointing. They should tell us something. A koko seller right behind my house died after collapsing and she had to be taken to LEKMA (Ledzokuku Metropolitan Assembly). She died on the way. This woman would have been saved if the facility was operating.” He lamented.
Residents who have been eager to see the project completed at least before the general elections said their hopes have been dashed.
One Emma said, “the workers are my friends. They said there was no money, so they were asked to leave. This hospital used to help us a lot. So, the authorities should tell us something.” He said.
Another, a trader close to the project site Efo, couldn’t understand what is happening. He said all he knows is that the work has halted, and the workers are gone. But as to what the reason is, he had no idea.
The OPD of the 164-bed facility was supposed to have been completed by end of October, according to government’s own timelines.
Residents expressed worry about government’s inconsistency with the completion date of the hospital.
3news will definitely continue to follow up on the project as residents cry for a health facility to address their health needs.