The University of Ghana Medical Center expects to be fully operational in July 2021.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, Dr. Darius Osei, recent discussions with the contractor of the project informed the new timeline.

“We’ve had a meeting where we discussed the timelines again. We have now decided that in the absence of any other things, probably by July ending, he should complete the [final] phase,” he said.

The hospital, which has over 770 staff, was expected to be fully functional in 2020.

Parliament approved a $50 million loan for the completion of the second phase.

But Dr. Osei said the coronavirus pandemic altered the initial timelines.

Since its commissioning, the hospital has mostly offered out-patient services in three units covering the paediatric, gynaecology and family medicine departments.

“They were supposed to have handed over to us around a year ago. The whole of the COVID time, the place was closed down because the contractor had to withdraw all his staff for about 5 months or so. There was no construction, so it shifted the timelines.”

The 650-bed capacity facility although commissioned in January 2017 was not in use for several months.

It was initially scheduled to open in November 2017 but was kept locked to the public due to a tussle between the Minister of Health and the University of Ghana over the management of the $217 million facility.

After months of controversy, the University of Ghana Medical Centre was officially opened in July 2018 as Ghana’s first Quaternary centre.