Ghana, an underdeveloped country located in West Africa, has suffered greatly during the COVID-19 pandemic, much like the rest of the world. The first two cases of COVID-19 in Ghana were reported on 12th March 2020. Since then, the government of Ghana, which runs more than 50% of its health sector, decided to initiate measures against COVID-19. A nation already lacking modern health facilities and with most of its population relying on pathetic public hospitals had to find some way out in such conditions. Though the health infrastructure in Ghana is better among sub-Saharan Africa countries, it is far beyond the international standards due to the financial crisis.
The Ghanaian government has kept intermittent restrictions on air and sea travel to avoid entry of COVID-positive patients into its borders and the Health Ministry came up with a 3T approach to fight the pandemic. The 3T approach is based on the principles of Tracing, Testing, and Treatment. This approach proved effective as Ghana is leading in the total number of COVID tests conducted, just behind South Africa. Ghana also significantly raised its number of testing centers and reduced the cost of PCR tests.
The sincerity and endurance of Ghana’s leadership were witnessed throughout the pandemic. Last year when the pandemic was at its zest in Africa, it was necessary to upgrade the major public health facilities to cope with pressure on the health sector. Ghana’s Ministry of Health timely analyzed this scenario and signed agreements with one of the leading French Engineering-Procurement-Construction companies “Ellipse Projects” for rapid completion of long-awaited incomplete health projects. The collaboration between the Republic of Ghana and Ellipse Projects has been tried and true.
As in 2018, the Ghanaian government following its program to spread public health facilities in poor and remote areas decided to grant a pending initiative of “Bekwai Hospital” in the Ashanti region to Ellipse Projects. About 30% of Ashanti had no access to a nearby public hospital. Hence, Ellipse Projects exquisitely finished their task within three years for €23 million. This work of Ellipse Projects is a 120-bed state-of-the-art hospital that is fully stocked with modern healthcare supplies, advanced automated machines, and patient-friendly technology. Not only the Ellipse Projects completed the construction, but they also furnished the facilities and trained the staff about the correct usage of technology.
Bekwai Hospital is fully functional now, with a radiology section, emergency services, gynecology department, ICUs, and consultation rooms. Which is a glimpse of Ghana’s focus towards up-gradation of its health system and seven-star professionalism of Ellipse Projects.
As a trusted partner of Ghana’s Ministry of Health, Ellipse Projects is now provided with another massive project of Koforidua Regional Hospital in Eastern Ghana. This project is divided into two phases: In the first phase, a 285-bed facility will be established which will expand to a capacity of 600-bed in the second phase. The first phase of this project which is worth €70 million is financed by SCB and UK export finance.
