The 160-bed capacity Upper West Regional Hospital is finally expected to be opened to the public today, Thursday, 9 January 2020, after several months of delay.

The US$ 52-million facility, although opened by President Akufo-Addo at an elaborate ceremony in August 2019, has since not been operationalised.

Health Minister Kweku Agyeman-Manu, in an interview attributed the delay to faulty electrical engineering – a situation that has since been resolved.

The residents of the area have, on many different occasions expressed frustration about the inconvenience they suffer due to the delay in operationalising the facility.

But Mr Agyeman-Manu told Accra-based Citi FM that: “Last week, the Regional Director called me that they are ready and they are putting in staff and they want us to come and see the very day they start working. I’m sending my Deputy Minister to do that assignment for me… They are doing it on Thursday. So, on Thursday morning, if anyone visits Wa, you will see a lot of action,” it said.

The Wa Regional Hospital is one of many yet-to-be-operationalised health facilities about which civil society group OccupyGhana petitioned the President.

The facility is designed with several departments including an administration, Out-Patient Department (OPD), Physiotherapy unit, Pharmacy Radiology Unit, Laboratory, Surgical Suite (Operation Dep.), Emergency & Casualty Unit, Burns Unit, Central Sterile Supply Department, Medical Gases production unit, Obstetrics & Gynaecology (Maternity and Child Health), Ambulance Station, Mortuary, Medical Waste Department, Relatives Hostel and 20 Staff Housing Units.

It is also equipped with modern medical equipment, key among them include X-Ray machines (stationed & mobile), CT Scan, mammography, ultrasound, fully equipped operation theatre, medical gases and Patient Monitors.

It is also fitted with a complete Local Area Network integrated with a Data Centre, Hospital Information Management Systems (HIMS), Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and has internet connectivity.