Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu appointed minister of state

Page 13 (Pol), November 15, 2007

Story: Kweku Tsen & Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah.
PRESIDENT John Agyekum Kufuor has nominated the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suame, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, as a Minister of State.
His nomination, according to the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi Hughes, has been referred to the Appointments Committee for consideration.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was born on February 3, 1957 at Breman Afrancho in the Ashanti Region and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Planning at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in 1992.
In 1996, he contested on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the parliamentary election and won the Suame seat to represent his constituents in Parliament.
He has since 1997 held the positions of Majority Chief Whip and Deputy Majority leader in Parliament.
In another development, the Deputy Minister of Health, Mrs Dr Gladys Ashitey, has said currently there are no funds for the upgrading of the Kadjebi Health Centre in the Volta Region to a district hospital.
The minister, who was responding to a question from the MP for Akan, Mr Kwadwo Gyapong, however, said the centre would be upgraded as soon as funds were available.
The MP enquired from the minister what plans the ministry had to upgrade the Kadjebi Health Centre to a district hospital.
Dr Mrs Ashitey said in line with the Central Government policy for providing every district with a well-equipped hospital, the ministry of health had developed a plan to implement that policy.
She said availability of funds would determine the speed with which the plan would be realised to ensure that each district had a good referral hospital.
When it was the turn of the MP for Sefwi Akontonbra, Mr Herod Cobbina, he asked the deputy minister why construction works on the Nsawora-Edumafua Health Centre in his constituency had been suspended.
Dr Mrs Ashitey explained that the construction of the centre had to be suspended because it was realised that the scope of work had to be reviewed to make the project more responsive to the growing demands of the community.
She said this had led to the increase of the cost of the project from ¢2,425,305 to ¢4,048,322 adding that the ministry had made provision in the 2008 budget for the completion of the project.
Answering another question by Mr Cobbina who wanted to ascertain when the Sefwi Wiawso Heath Training School would be considered for infrastructure development, Dr Mrs Ashitey said the construction of classroom and hostel blocks for the school was expected to begin early next year.
The MP for Karaga, Mr Iddrisu Dawuda, also asked the minister when the Karaga District Health Centre would be provided with an ambulance to cater for the communities in its catchment area.
Replying, Mrs Ashitey said the Ministry of Health, through its agencies like the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS), had the responsibility for providing ambulance coverage to the people.
“The NAS was established in 2004 as one of the agencies of the ministry with the responsibility for providing Pre-hospital Care to the sick and wounded and convey them to a health facility for treatment,” she said.
The minister said the NAS moved into full-scale operations in 2006, stressing that with the scaling up of ambulance stations from seven in three regions to 19 in five regions, the effect of the services of the NAS in the health delivery system had become more prominent.
She added that 91 new ambulances were procured to provide ambulance coverage and other emergency services in the country .
“By the end of the year, all the regional capitals would have ambulance stations with ambulances. Next year, the government plans to procure more ambulances to initiate the expansion process to the district capitals,” the minister said.
Dr Mrs Ashitey said with reference to Karaga, the district would be considered during the expansion phase, which would cover a three-year period, beginning next year.