The 2020 Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, has explained that the Free Primary Healthcare program that his government will implement upon election will be aimed to propel Ghana into achieving the Sustainable Development Goal in Health.
According to him, the Free Primary Healthcare program will not only build on the existing National Health Insurance Scheme, but accelerate the country’s Health regime to make healthcare accessible to all before 2030, the the projected year for the attainment of the SDGs.
Government will spend Ghc1.4billion annually on the primary healthcare program he said.
“We estimate to spend GH¢1.4 billion, annually on Free Primary Health care from December 2021.
Ultimately, it will ensure a healthy nation. We believe a healthy nation translates into a healthy workforce that will contribute to the growth of the economy, lead to massive job creation and improve livelihoods.”
Former President Mahama reiterated this while addressing Ghanaian professionals on the NDC’s Manifesto promises in Accra yesterday.
He pointed out that the country’s main health program, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has served a partial purpose so far after it was piloted in the 90s by former President Jerry Rawlings, instituted as a district based scheme by President Kufuor and expanded nationally by the Mills government.
The current scheme, he said, produced inequalities with the poor suffering a lack of access to healthcare under the scheme. This he said the Free Primary Healthcare will tackle.
“Our yearly population growth rate is 2.2%. Meanwhile, the NHIS has been growing on the average at 0.27% every year between 2017 and 2019. The rate must be consistent with population growth if we are to attain health for all by 2030. We have all not done too well.
“Successive governments in our 4th Republican democracy have contributed to the establishment and growth of the Scheme. It was piloted in the 1990s by President Jerry John Rawlings and implemented in 2007 as a district mutual health insurance scheme by President Agyekum Kufuor.
Unfortunately, under the initial implementation of the scheme, subscribers could not access health care outside of the districts where they registered.
“I was privileged to have served in the Government of President John Evans Atta Mills, which converted the Scheme into a truly national one with service delivery available to subscribers anywhere they found themselves in the nation.
“As things stand today – only 40% of our population are on the National Health Insurance Scheme.
And Oxfam International, which works in more than 90 countries, suggests in a 2019 report on extreme inequalities in Ghana, that only 2% of Ghana’s poor (as defined by the United Nations) are on health insurance.
“This implies a staggering 98% of the poor, who are more susceptible to various communicable andnon-communicable diseases, are excluded from the social protection provided by the NHIS.
“Further evidence indicates that vulnerabilities within specific groups such as persons with disabilities and the aged impede access to the NHIS. Also, despite the existence of the NHIS, health care costs are still high. At this rate, we are nowhere close to achieving health for all by the year 2030.”
Former President Mahama said under the Free Primary Healthcare program, people living with disability will enjoy assistive care for free.
“Let me be very clear, the Free Primary Health Care policy will provide health care for all Ghanaians at no cost, in district hospitals, polyclinics, clinics, health centres and CHPS Compounds. You will
not need a health insurance card – state or private – to benefit from Free Primary health care. You will not have to pay a premium to benefit,” he said.