The free primary healthcare programme will be officially launched on April 15, 2026, President John Dramani Mahama has announced,
This programme promises to remove financial barriers to basic healthcare for all Ghanaians from the district hospital level down to the community.
President Mahama made the announcement on Monday during his opening address at a presidential dialogue with civil society organisations at the Presidency, where he called on the organisations present to support public education around the programme and help monitor its implementation once it went live.
“This initiative intends to remove financial barriers to basic health care, increase access at the community level, and enhance preventive care,” President Mahama stated .
Under the programme, any Ghanaian seeking treatment at a district hospital or a Community-based Health Planning and Services compound will receive care free of charge, without the need for a National Health Insurance card.
The initiative also has a strong preventive dimension, with six thousand community health volunteers, one for each of Ghana’s electoral areas, to be deployed to conduct door-to-door screenings using blood pressure monitors, glucometers and other basic diagnostic tools.
Community pharmacies set up under the same initiative will stock generic drugs for conditions such as hypertension, making it possible for people identified through screening to access medication at low cost without travelling to a formal health facility.
President Mahama said the April 15 launch date was firm and urged civil society organisations to begin preparing to play a role in getting the word out to communities, particularly in areas where awareness of the programme remained low.
He noted that the government was counting on civil society to also serve as a feedback mechanism, flagging implementation gaps so they could be addressed quickly.
The free primary healthcare programme sits alongside the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, which targets non-communicable diseases such as cancer, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease, and which President Mahama has said will become operational in April as well.