President John Dramani Mahama has announced that the government will complete 35 hospitals under the Agenda 111 programme this year as part of efforts to revive stalled health infrastructure projects across the country.

Speaking during a courtesy call on the Northern Regional House of Chiefs on Friday, May 15, President Mahama criticised the initial rollout strategy of the Agenda 111 initiative, arguing that constructing all 111 hospitals simultaneously created implementation challenges and delayed completion.

According to him, several of the projects stalled at various stages after some contractors allegedly abandoned their sites despite receiving mobilisation funds.

The President revealed that the government is taking steps to recover monies paid to defaulting contractors while restructuring the implementation process to ensure value for money.

“Government this year is going to put money in and continue them and complete them, and then adequate provision will be made in the next budget to clear another batch,” he stated.

President Mahama further disclosed that the government is engaging faith-based organisations and private healthcare operators to adopt some of the hospital projects to support their completion and future management.

He explained that the new approach is aimed at improving healthcare delivery while preventing the growing burden of abandoned public infrastructure projects on the national budget.

The Agenda 111 programme was introduced to expand healthcare infrastructure across Ghana through the construction of district and regional hospitals.