According to him, the contractor was awaiting the issuance of an insurance cover to commence construction but could, however, not say when that could be done.
Answering questions in Parliament, the Health Minister said the Finance Minister was engaging the financiers to resolve the issue.
He said "But since the Ministry of Health does not control that activity, it will be difficult for me to give a very specific timeline.
"The little problem we have at the ministry is that not until some issues with the insurance cover are done, they cannot move to site. Finance Ministry has been informed and they are engaging that the problem would soon be resolved."
But the Member of Parliament for La Dade Kotopon, Ms. Rita Naa Odoley Sowah, said her constituents feel deceived by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo when he promised that the demolished La General Hospital would be rebuilt in 24 months because of the delay in the start of the project after it was wrecked and the president cut sod for its reconstruction in August 2020.
The MP speaking on Accra FM said "before you award a contract and cut sod for it, you should have done all the preliminary feasibility works concerning the project.
"It beats my imagination. I don’t get it...People come from different areas to access healthcare at the hospital, not just constituents of La Dade Kotopon, and the health of the people is paramount.
"So, you [Agyeman Manu] led the president to come and deceive the people of La Dade Kotopon because you were the then-minister and still are the minister of health."
"At your vetting, you told us that ‘it is almost complete' but what at all was happening on the site for you to have told us that it was almost complete? Before your vetting, why didn’t you visit the various locations to be abreast with whatever is going on there but you come and sit before the vetting committee and deceive the people of La Dade Kotopon, deceive the people of Ghana, which is very much uncalled for...He [Agyeman-Manu] has not been truthful to us. The minister lied at his vetting," she stated.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuf0-Addo speaking during the sod-cutting ceremony indicated that the redevelopment project has been occasioned by a report from the Ghana Health Service, which indicated that the five-storey structure of the Hospital had developed gaping cracks, which made the facility unfit for use.
Furthermore, the unplanned nature of the entire hospital campus required that it be re-organised so that it can function efficiently as a 21st-century hospital, which will serve the needs of residents of La and its adjoining communities.
With the government's policy of achieving Universal Health Coverage for all, which demands that access to decent healthcare is guaranteed for every Ghanaian, no matter where they live, the President explained that this is the reason why the government had to source quickly the requisite funding to embark on the redevelopment of the Hospital, in view of its strategic location in our nation’s healthcare delivery system.
"This facility, in so many ways, complements the Greater Accra Regional Hospital at Ridge, and its upgrading will serve most people from Osu through La and Teshie, as well as residents living along the coastal corridor of Accra," he said.