President John Dramani Mahama has criticised what he described as the deceptive elevation of the Sunyani Regional Hospital to Teaching Hospital status under the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.
Speaking during his Thank-you tour of the Bono Region on Friday, May 30, the President stated that the facility lacked the infrastructure and legal backing to merit the designation.
He further announced his government’s move to legally upgrade the hospital with immediate effect.
“The previous government announcement on the upgrade of the Sunyani Teaching Hospital into a teaching hospital was not backed by any legal legislation. We have corrected that. The Council of State has approved the board, and collaboration with UENR is underway to begin the training of health professionals to serve the Bono, East, Ahafo, and beyond.”
The President also announced the establishment of a medical school at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR).
“UENR has suffered stagnation due to inadequate investment. The new NDC administration is going to change that. One of the first steps taken by my administration has been to uncap the GETFund. This will release more resources to the fund to undertake critical infrastructure projects in all our educational institutions.
“The GETFund has recently conducted an infrastructure audit of the UENR university and will soon commence construction of additional facilities to support the establishment of a fully-fledged medical school.”