Upper East: Nurses to get 1,320 medical kits under free primary healthcare

Nurses in the Upper East Region are set to receive 1,320 medical kits under the government’s Free Primary Healthcare initiative, Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has announced.

The allocation forms part of 9,000 medical kits, popularly known as “red bags”, that will be distributed to nurses across the country to support the delivery of primary healthcare services.

Mr. Akandoh announced the intervention at a Free Primary Healthcare durbar held at Zuarungu as part of President John Dramani Mahama’s Resetting Ghana Tour of the Upper East Region.

According to the Health Minister, the distribution of the medical kits is intended to equip nurses with the essential tools needed to provide basic healthcare services, particularly at the community level.

He also disclosed that the government had released funds to cover payments for the July to September quarter of the Free Primary Healthcare programme, with each quarter expected to cost the state approximately GH¢35 million.

“We have released the population payments for July to September, and each quarter is costing the state GH¢35 million. So, we are fully prepared for the implementation of the Free Primary Healthcare,” he said.

Mr. Akandoh said the initiative marks a shift in the country’s healthcare approach from primarily treating illnesses after they occur to placing greater emphasis on disease prevention.

“Everyone will bear me witness that the cost of treating sickness is high, but the change now is that we are paying to prevent sickness and diseases instead of paying to treat sickness and diseases,” he stated.

The Minister also highlighted the role of the National Health Insurance Scheme in improving access to healthcare services in Ghana, describing its evolution from a pilot programme through the mutual health insurance system to the current national scheme.

“The National Health Insurance has served this country so well. It moved from the pilot to mutual and then to national, as we have it at the moment,” Mr. Akandoh said.

He explained that the Free Primary Healthcare initiative, the National Health Insurance Scheme and MahamaCares are designed to complement one another rather than replace any existing healthcare intervention.

“We have three interventions in the health sector, and none of them is replacing the other. They are complementing each other,” he said.

“We have Free Primary Healthcare, which has its limitations; we have National Health Insurance, which has its limits too; and we have MahamaCares. In the journey, we have one of these interventions to assist you,” he added.

The government says the Free Primary Healthcare initiative is aimed at strengthening preventive healthcare, improving access to basic health services and reducing the financial burden on Ghanaians seeking healthcare.

The distribution of the medical kits is expected to further enhance the capacity of nurses to deliver essential primary healthcare services, particularly in underserved communities across the country.