The Children's Specialist Hospital in Weija has been handed over to the government by the contractor responsible for its construction, with calls mounting for the facility to be made operational.

Officials from the Ministry of Health received the facility before handing it over to the Ghana Health Service, according to sources familiar with the development.

The 120-bed hospital is expected to strengthen specialised healthcare services for children, and stakeholders are now calling for it to begin operations.

Background: agreement brokered after months of delay

The handover follows a push by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to get the Ministry of Health and contractor Awerco Construction Limited to finalise the transfer of the facility.

In a press statement issued on July 16, EOCO said it had facilitated a series of engagements between the two parties to enable the Ministry to take over the hospital and begin healthcare services.

EOCO said the agreement was reached despite unresolved issues on the project, including claims by the contractor over unpaid sums and concerns raised by the project's financier over procurement processes. It said the parties agreed to hand over and operationalise the facility without further delay, in the public interest, so it could begin providing specialised healthcare services for children and families.

EOCO added that its ongoing investigations into allegations of procurement breaches and financial impropriety on the project would continue, and that the handover would not affect those investigations.

The delay had also been raised in Parliament.

Responding to questions on Wednesday, July 9, Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh attributed the holdup to the contractor's failure to complete and formally hand over the facility, even though the hospital had already been fully staffed. He said the World Bank-funded project had suffered setbacks after procurement irregularities were identified during construction, which the Ministry needed to address before the project could proceed.

Mr Akandoh said the Ministry had held several engagements with the contractor to resolve the outstanding issues, with a final meeting expected around July 10. He rejected suggestions that government was deliberately delaying the hospital's opening, citing Ghana Health Service inspections that found portions of the facility still incomplete at the time.

He also said the hospital could begin receiving patients within 24 hours of being formally handed over, without the need for a commissioning ceremony, since health professionals had already been recruited and deployed.

The delay had drawn public concern, particularly from residents of the Weija-Gbawe Municipality, who staged a demonstration in May demanding the immediate opening of the fully equipped facility.

With the handover now complete, attention turns to how quickly the Ghana Health Service can operationalise the hospital and begin admitting patients.