The Minister of Health, Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has convened a stakeholder meeting with health sector leaders as the government prepares to implement its Free Primary Healthcare program in March.
The Minister described the meeting as a listening exercise in which frontline professionals provided technical input to help fine-tune the policy before it is delivered to Cabinet and Parliament for approval.
The initiative is a prominent pledge in the party’s 2024 manifesto and is also included in the Health Sector Medium-Term Development Plan (2025-2029).
Dr. Belinda Afriyie Nimako, Director of Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) at the Ministry of Health, presented the technical framework and explained how the policy expands access and strengthens preventive care while building upon current primary healthcare structures, such as CHPS compounds, Health centres, and the National Health Insurance Scheme.
She disclosed that a blended payment system, which combines the present fee-for-service model with population-based payments to encourage preventative care and equity and performance adjustments to benefit marginalised communities, will be used to finance the policy.
Primary healthcare services will be free at the point of use under the proposal, according to Dr. Belinda, and NHIS registration is not necessary.
Preventive and promotional care, basic curative treatments, necessary medications, basic diagnostics, maternity and child health services, mental health care, and emergency stabilisation will all be included in the package.
Before the March launch, more technical work and consultations are anticipated.
Source: newsthemegh.com