The Bono Regional Minister, Joseph Addae Akwaboa (ESQ), has acknowledged that the Bono Region still lacks a designated regional hospital, despite hosting a teaching hospital in Sunyani, and announced that steps are being taken to address the gap while strengthening the teaching hospital’s capacity.

Speaking in an interview with Mr Aboagye Boadi Yaw also called ABY on ‘Bus Mu Nkomo’ on Sompa FM’s Drive Time show in Sunyani on Monday December 15 over the status of healthcare infrastructure in the region, the minister said government is “putting measures in place” to construct a regional hospital, noting that the absence of such a facility continues to affect healthcare delivery in the region.

The minister also took aim at the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, disputing its claim that the Sunyani hospital was converted into a teaching hospital in 2024.

According to him, the process followed at the time fell short of the legal and administrative requirements for establishing a teaching hospital.

“In this country, if you want to change the status or name of a hospital, there are clear steps and procedures,” he said. “What happened was that a signpost was mounted to represent a teaching hospital, but that alone does not make a teaching hospital.”

He argued that no significant infrastructure, equipment, or governance changes accompanied the announcement under the NPP governement, insisting that “they didn’t add even a "syringe” after the declaration. He maintained that a cabinet memorandum alone is insufficient to establish a teaching hospital.

The minister credited the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and late President Jerry John Rawlings with the original construction of the Sunyani hospital, challenging critics to identify any hospital in the Bono Region established by the NPP government.

According to him, the current NDC administration has now completed the formal processes required to operationalize the Sunyani Teaching Hospital. These include the appointment of a properly constituted governing board through the Ministry of Health, based on professional qualifications.

He further disclosed that government plans to significantly upgrade the hospital’s equipment base by the end of the year through the Medical Trust Fund. Planned acquisitions include an MRI machine, CT scan equipment, digital X-ray systems, mobile computed radiography units, and an endoscopy unit.

“We say we have a teaching hospital, but we don’t have dialysis machines—so how is that a teaching hospital?” he asked, adding that 10 dialysis machines are also expected to be delivered.

The minister said the investment, though costly, is essential to meeting the standards of a teaching hospital and training medical professionals effectively.

“These machines are very expensive, but they are what make a teaching hospital,” he said. “This shows how serious this government is about making the teaching hospital in the Bono Region strong.”

While the political debate over the hospital’s origins continues, health stakeholders say the region’s most pressing need remains the establishment of a fully functional regional hospital to complement the teaching hospital and ease pressure on existing facilities.

Sompaonline.com/Derrick Djan