The Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, announced recently that the government's free primary healthcare (PHC) programme would fully take off in January next year.
Free primary health care means that everyone can access basic medical services without paying fees or charges at the point of care.
This includes services like doctor consultations, prescriptions, lab tests and hospital stays.
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) provides financial protection against the cost of health care, and some services are free, like maternal health care and treatment for certain diseases.
According to the Health Minister, in line with the programme, every Ghanaian, irrespective of where he or she may be or come from, will automatically access primary health care freely without any hindrance.
This is indeed good news.
The goal of free PHC is to make health care more accessible and equitable, especially for vulnerable populations like the poor, women and children.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) notes that more than one billion people all over the world are at risk of falling into poverty due to out-of-pocket health spending of 10 per cent or more of their household budget.
Therefore, scaling up PHC interventions across low and middle-income countries could save 60 million lives and increase average life expectancy by 3.7 years by 2030.
Furthermore, an estimated 75 per cent of the projected health gains from the Sustainable Development Goals could be achieved through PHC.
The benefits of free primary health care are numerous.
It will reduce out-of-pocket payments, prevent medical bankruptcies and improve health outcomes.
By prioritising preventive care, we can reduce the burden of diseases and create a healthier workforce, driving economic growth and development.
The Daily Graphic holds the view that implementing free primary health care requires careful planning, adequate funding and efficient resource allocation.
The government must, therefore, ensure that healthcare facilities are well-equipped, upgraded and staffed. It is important to implement efficient supply chain management to prevent stockouts and ensure essential medicines are available.
As the Health Minister observed, the significant obstacle in the country’s journey towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) was the cost. However, the NHIS which is intended to make coverage accessible to most Ghanaians, only enrolled about 56 per cent of the population.
Therefore, the paper suggests that the NHIS should be enhanced to provide adequate coverage of the population and also ensure efficient claims processing.
Moreover, to ensure the effective rollout of the PHC intervention, it is important that the government addresses human resource challenge facing the health sector.
The Government must also look at implementing policies to attract and retain healthcare workers while addressing issues like inadequate staffing and poor working conditions.
Also, there is the need to recruit, train and retrain healthcare professionals and deploy them to underserved communities.
Two activities that cannot be overlooked as the country makes significant strides in providing quality, accessible and equitable health care for all are raising awareness about the importance of preventive care and promoting healthy lifestyles; and engaging communities to promote health education and healthcare planning and delivery.
We appeal to the Ministry of Health to ensure that free primary health care is really ‘free’, and there will be no hidden charges which will defeat the purpose of the programme.
It is not uncommon in our part of the world to realise that services or things that are intended to be free end up being costly.
For instance, the NHIS is supposed to cover some services.
However, people do not experience the services or treatment that are supposed to be free on the NHIS list.
Therefore, it is important to put some clarity on what is supposed to be ‘free’ and measures put in place to prevent illegal charges and ensure that those providing those services do the right thing.
This is indeed a good initiative which goes to the root of the government’s commitment to improving the country’s health sector.
We have to do everything possible to make free primary health care a reality, and ensure that every Ghanaian can access quality health care.
