Free primary healthcare: Gov’t spends GH¢35m every quarter on prevention – Akandoh

The Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has disclosed that the government spends about GH¢35 million every quarter on preventive healthcare services under the Free Primary Healthcare programme.

He disclosed this at a media briefing on Monday, September 7, where he provided an update on the implementation of the policy and outlined measures being taken to sustain the programme.

According to him, the government has established a population-based payment system to ensure that healthcare providers delivering preventive services under the programme are paid.

“The population-based payment has been created. And as I speak to you now, we are spending about 35 million Ghanaians per quarter.”

Mr. Akandoh explained that although the programme is free to beneficiaries, the state must finance the services and reimburse providers to ensure its sustainability.

“And let me remind you that free primary health care is free to the ordinary Ghanaian, but it’s not free to Ghanaians.”

“And so therefore there is a need to create these payment systems for service providers to get paid to ensure the sustainability of the programme.”

He said a second payment mechanism, the Diagnostic Related Groupings (DRG), had also been introduced to cover the claims payment component of the programme, particularly its curative services.

“And then the next one is the DRG, the Diagnostic Related Groupings. That will be the claims payment aspect or the curative aspect.”

The minister further disclosed that an access system had been created to allow beneficiaries to obtain a one-time accessibility code when seeking services.

He said the code would be valid for 24 hours and would help the government verify service utilisation and facilitate payments to health facilities.

Mr. Akandoh stressed that the Free Primary Healthcare programme was not designed to replace the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Instead, he said, greater investment in prevention and early detection would help reduce pressure on the national insurance system over time.

“The free primary health care is not a competitor to the National Health Insurance Scheme. And it does not come to replace the National Health Insurance, if anything at all.”

“The free primary health care is the cheapest friend of the National Health Insurance Scheme.”

He argued that preventing diseases or detecting them early was not only beneficial to public health but could also reduce healthcare costs.

“As we see, prevention is not only good medicine, but it’s also good economics.”

The Free Primary Healthcare programme covers preventive, curative and health-promotion services at the primary healthcare level.

Preventive interventions include screening for conditions such as hypertension and high blood sugar, selected cancers and mental health conditions, alongside maternal, child and reproductive health services.

The programme also promotes nutrition, physical activity, hygiene, sanitation, and healthy lifestyles, with health workers expected to take services directly into communities through home visits.

The government says the initiative is part of efforts to shift Ghana’s healthcare system towards prevention and early detection while making essential primary healthcare more accessible to citizens.