President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has commissioned a three hundred (300)-bed capacity young soldiers’ block at the 37 Military Hospital.
Commissioning the Block on Wednesday, 1st February 2023, President Akufo-Addo stated that the 37 Military Hospital, usually, finds itself with a lot of young soldiers posted to the Unit to commence their basic training in medical care.
Over the years, he explained that “the number has been increasing with nowhere to house these young soldiers, as they have to be on the hospital premises to learn their trade.”
According to the President, it is for this reason that then Director General of Health Services, Brigadier General Ralph Ametepe, conceived and started this project in 2016.
“With the use of internally generated funds, the project stood at fifty percent (50%) complete in 2018. Running out of funds in 2018 meant that the project stalled. It is good to note that successive Directors at the Hospital continued the project, albeit at a slow pace, until the project was revived in 2021 by the current Chief of Defence Staff,” he said.
The President continued, “I am told that the Chief of Defence Staff, in 2021, made an appeal to the Jospong Group of Companies to assist with the completion of this block, a request which was duly heard and answered. Jospong Group of Companies agreed to complete the project as a Corporate Social Responsibility at no cost to the Ghana Armed Forces. Jospong, well done, ayekoo!!”
Whilst assuring the officers, men and women of the Armed Forces of Government’s commitment to their welfare and well-being, he noted that since in assumption of office in 2017, his Government rolled out a number of measures to help deal with these challenges facing the Armed Forces.
These include phases one and two of the Barracks Regeneration Project and the Military Housing Projects, which I launched in 2017 and 2021, respectively. Government is also striving to complete stalled SSNIT and Ministry of Defence projects commenced in 2016 to add to the accommodation stock.
These, together with ongoing accommodation projects, he explained, will provide some three thousand (3,000) accommodation units for the Ghana Armed Forces soon, and it will be the largest provision of accommodation units for the Armed Forces.
“We will continue to stay true to the pledges we made in our 2016 and 2020 manifestoes, which brought into and retained my party, the New Patriotic Party, and I, in office. Government will continue to construct much-needed accommodation infrastructure to enable the 37 Military Hospital and the Ghana Armed Forces perform its role as required by the Ghanaian people,” the President said.
Later in the day, President Akufo-Addo also commissioned a new administration block for the Chief of Defence Staff, at Burma Camp, and also handed over a UN Level IV Field Hospital to the Ghana Armed Forces.
