Delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Accra on Tuesday, he said a total of 262,335 Ghanaians had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccines as at 1030 hours on March 9, 2021.

He said the Government was working hard towards realising its goal to vaccinate 20 million Ghanaians and called for the support of all.

The president urged Members of Parliament (MPs) to get involved in the ongoing public education campaign on the coronavirus vaccination programme, saying “…Together, with strict compliance with the safety protocols, is what will allow us to open up our country again and embark on the quest to restore normalcy to our lives and livelihoods.”

He said the Government was collaborating with the private sector to establish 14 medical waste treatment facilities across the country to ensure the safe and proper disposal of medical waste such as vials, needles and syringes being used in the coronavirus vaccination exercise.

President Akufo-Addo said locally, 14,600,000 pieces of Personal Protective Equipment had so far been produced for health workers, students, teaching and non-teaching staff of tertiary and secondary educational institutions.

He said the Government would continue to invest in the health sector, and recruit more professionals to improve healthcare delivery in the country.

He expressed gratitude to all frontline healthcare workers for their devotion to duty and sense of patriotism, saying the pandemic had emphasised the need to expand access to healthcare for every Ghanaian, irrespective of location.

The President said, last year, 33 major health projects were approved for implementation at a cost of €890 million.

“Key amongst them are the Koforidua Regional Hospital, Tema General Hospital, the Nephrology and Urology Centre at Korle-Bu, Redevelopment of the Effia Nkwanta Hospital into a Teaching Hospital, and the Construction of a new Regional Hospital at Agona Nkwanta in the Western Region,” he said.

He stated that electronic medical records system (E-Health) deployment was currently underway, following its implementation in key health facilities like Korle-Bu, Komfo-Anokye, Ho, Tamale and Cape Coast teaching hospitals, and several district hospitals in the Central Region.

President Akufo-Addo said the Upper East, Upper West, and Bono regional hospitals would go live on the e-health platform in the next five days.

Source: GNA