President John Dramani Mahama has sensitised Ghanaians on the benefits of the Government’s Free Primary Healthcare Programme by embracing home health visits by nurses, basic screenings, and local clinic access designed to remove out-of-pocket costs for basic medical attention.
The President made the appeal during a community engagement on the Free Primary Healthcare Programme at Zuarungu in the Bolgatanga East Municipality on day one of his two-day Resetting Ghana Tour of the Upper East Region.
He said under the Free Primary Healthcare Programme nurses would be visiting people in their homes to check conditions like hypertension and diabetes to ensure early detection and treatment.
He said Ghana had three tier healthcare delivery systems – the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the Free Primary Healthcare Programme and the Ghana Medical Trust Fund (MahamaCares).
He explained that the basic level was the Free Primary Healthcare Programme that ranges from the health kiosks and CHPS compounds to health centres and polyclinics, adding that, “once one goes beyond the polyclinic level to the district hospital, one enters the National Health Insurance zone.”
“We have also added another segment beyond that for cancers, kidney diseases, heart attacks and other complicated illnesses that are very expensive to treat. In such cases, the patient will be referred from the district hospital to a tertiary treatment centre.”
The President said the Ghana Medical Trust Fund was established to help address the issues of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, strokes, and cancers.
He said under the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, they had started equipping major hospitals by providing them with CT scanners, MRI machines, X-ray machines, and other equipment needed for diagnosis and treatment.
He said they had secured catheterisation laboratories for Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, which he had commissioned and that another one was coming to Kumasi and the third facility was being set up at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, which was a complete cardiothoracic centre.
“So, if someone in the Upper East Region has a cardiovascular condition that is beyond the capacity of the local facility, the patient can be referred to Tamale,” he said.
President Mahama noted that there would be a fully equipped cardiothoracic facility in Tamale capable of treating patients, performing surgeries and providing the necessary specialist care.
President Mahama said pregnant women identified during the visits by nurses would be encouraged to attend antenatal care, while newborns would be monitored to ensure they were growing well and receiving their vaccinations.
Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Health Minister, said the Government established the Ghana Medical Trust Fund to address diseases that were not covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) such as cardiovascular diseases.