Parts of Accra Psychiatric Hospital land to be commercialised
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select committee on Health, Dr Nana Ayew Afriyie, says the Accra Psychiatric Hospital (APH) is not for sale, however, portions of the Hospital’s land will be commercialised in line with its redevelopment under the Agenda 111 projects.
He said the part to be commercialised would be opened to Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in due time to minimise the financial burden on the Hospital.
Dr Afriyie said this on Thursday after the Committee paid a working visit to the Hospital following reports that the Facility had been sold.
The government under the Agenda 111 seeks to redevelop the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, construct, equip and commission one psychiatric hospital in Kumasi and another at Tamale.
The Health Minister, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, in a Face book post, dismissed reports that the Hospital had been sold to a private developer.
“The APH is to be redeveloped into a 220-bed psychiatric hospital under an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EDC) contract,” he said.
Dr Afriyie said the Hospital management had proposed three movement plans for the redevelopment project.
The first is the relocation of staff and patients of the Hospital to a different facility for a year one-and-a-half period.
The second is the rotation of staff and patients at the facility for three to over four years and the creation of makeshift structures on the portion of the land to be commercialised.
“The uncertainty in the system now is when the project would start and who would be downsized, it appears that when there is a makeshift structure, they will attend to a few OPD and inpatient cases and not all staff would be needed,” he said.
Dr Afriyie said the Committee would meet leaders of the Agenda 111 project and the Health Ministry to understand the movement plan, stating that the Committee would not support the evacuation of staff when there were not clear timelines on when the project was starting.
The Accra Psychiatric Hospital, formally called the Lunatic Asylum, was constructed in 1904 for the treatment, welfare, training, and rehabilitation of persons with mental illness.
Source: GNA