The Ministry of Health has announced the procurement of about 24,000 pieces of equipment for distribution to health facilities nationwide, part of a broader rollout of the government’s Free Primary Health Care policy unveiled during President John Dramani Mahama’s working visit to the Volta Region.
Briefing the President at a health-focused durbar, Minister for Health , Hon. kwabena Mintah Akandoh explained that the new policy is designed to shift the country’s health delivery system away from its long-standing reliance on treating sickness after the fact, toward a model built around prevention, arguing that catching health problems early has always been preferable to managing them once they set in.
Hon. kwabena Mintah Akandoh told the President that primary health care under the new policy will be accessible at every level the chief’s compound, health centres, and polyclinics, with no National Health Insurance card and no payment required at any of the three.
Anyone visiting these facilities, the Ministry said, will be attended to entirely free of charge.
Beyond facility-based care, the policy also includes a home-based prevention and promotion component, under which health professionals will visit households directly to check blood pressure and blood sugar levels and carry out general screening.
He noted that the President has consistently called for every Ghanaian to be screened at least once a year, and said the home-visit system is designed to make that goal achievable at scale.
Insurance Scheme Remains Essential Beyond the Polyclinic Level
The Ministry was careful to stress that the new policy is not a replacement for the National Health Insurance Scheme but a complement to it. Free primary health care, the official explained, ends at the polyclinic level, anyone referred on to district hospitals, regional hospitals, or teaching hospitals will still need to rely on their National Health Insurance for that next stage of treatment, prompting a direct appeal for Ghanaians to keep subscribing to the scheme.
Citing coverage figures, the official said National Health Insurance enrolment stood at 57 percent in 2024 and has since risen to more than 66 percent, meaning an estimated 11 to 12 million Ghanaians remain uninsured.
Those citizens, the Ministry said, will now also benefit directly from free primary health care, since the new policy applies to all 33 million people in the country regardless of insurance status, unlike the insurance scheme, which is limited to subscribers and subject to periodic renewal.
On infrastructure, the Ministry disclosed that the country’s health facilities have gone more than 12 years without significant retooling, a gap it said the government is now moving to close through a nationwide equipment rollout.
“We have procured about 24,000 pieces of equipment to be distributed across the length and breadth of this country.”
Hon. kwabena Mintah Akandoh
Mahama Cares Fund to Target Non-Communicable Diseases
The briefing also touched on a third pillar of the health reforms, addressing conditions not fully covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme even at the tertiary level. The official pointed to non-communicable diseases as a particular gap, noting that they account for more than 40 percent of deaths nationally, with roughly 45 out of every 100 mortalities linked to such conditions.
This is the rationale behind the newly established Ghana Medical Trust Fund, popularly known as Mahama Cares, which the Ministry said is dedicated specifically to treating non-communicable diseases.
Incentives Planned for Rural Health Postings and Specialist Training
Turning to workforce measures, the Ministry outlined plans to fast-track promotions for health professionals who accept postings to rural areas, as an incentive to improve staffing in underserved communities.
It also confirmed the rollout of post-basic nursing courses in areas such as oncology and critical care nursing, already under way at Korle Bu, Komfo Anokye, and Tamale Teaching Hospitals, with scholarships being considered for professionals pursuing these specialisations.
Separately, the Ministry said about 30 tutors at nursing training institutions have already received scholarships to pursue PhDs, a move intended to strengthen the quality of training delivered to the country’s health workforce, alongside further financial and non-financial incentives still to be announced.
With the policy framework, equipment procurement and workforce incentives now outlined, attention will turn to how quickly the 24,000 pieces of equipment reach facilities nationwide and whether the parallel push to raise National Health Insurance enrolment keeps pace with the rollout of free primary care across the country.
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