By Collins Sarkodieh 
A massive healthcare expansion plan in the Western Region has turned into a frustrating waiting game for local coastal communities. The multi-million-dollar upgrade of the St. Martin de Porres Hospital at Eikwe has been completely abandoned for the past four years, leaving the structure to rot in bushes.
The stalled project was originally designed to transform the sixty-year-old Catholic health facility into a modern, state-of-the-art teaching hospital. Today, the overgrown project site stands as a disappointing monument of neglect, forcing rural patients to continue traveling long distances to access specialized emergency care.
The St. Martin de Porres Hospital serves as a critical medical lifeline for three major Nzema municipalities, frequently treating cross-border patients from neighboring Côte d’Ivoire. To expand this vital capacity, former board executives of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) officially cut sod for the fourteen million dollar transformation on October 16, 2020.
Construction work progressed rapidly and reached a very promising sixty percent completion rate by the year 2022. However, following a major transition of power and subsequent administrative leadership changes at GNPC, the operational momentum came to a sudden halt as contractors packed their tools due to a lack of funding.
The persistent neglect of the facility has forced both local political heads and traditional leaders to aggressively demand immediate answers from state authorities. The Ellembelle District Chief Executive, Joseph Agyekum, alongside the Member of Parliament, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, have formally written to GNPC to demand an official explanation.
While community members express deep frustration, the assembly has offered a small glimmer of hope regarding a potential restart. The current GNPC Chief Executive has assured local leaders that a minor forensic audit is currently underway to assess the financial state of the stalled polyclinic project before workers return to the site in the coming weeks.
The abandoned medical infrastructure is unfortunately not an isolated incident within the oil and gas enclave. The District Assembly revealed that several other highly vital GNPC-initiated infrastructure developments in the municipality have suffered an identical fate over the same timeframe.
A major girls’ dormitory project at the Nkroful Agricultural Senior High School has remained stalled since 2020, aggravating accommodation challenges for female students. Furthermore, key town bypasses started under the Gas and Oil Enclave Roads project have been completely halted, disrupting local commerce and transit across the coastal district.
Ordinary citizens inside Eikwe and surrounding fishing communities are pleading with the central government to intervene swiftly to save lives. Residents argue that traveling all the way to the Effiakwanta Hospital in Takoradi or the 37 Military Hospital in Accra for specialized treatment is financially impossible for poor families.
Completing the structural upgrades at Eikwe would provide the region with the exact same high-standard facilities locally. As families wait with bated breath, all eyes remain fixed on GNPC to see if the promised forensic audit will yield real operational action or leave the coastal region with broken promises.
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