The engagements are aimed at gathering input to guide the effective implementation of the policy, which is expected to roll out in the first week of April this 2026.

The Free Primary Healthcare policy seeks to remove user fees at the point of care and provide essential services with a strong focus on preventive, promotive and basic curative healthcare, particularly for vulnerable populations.

The initiative is expected to improve financial protection, expand access to healthcare services and enhance service quality nationwide.

The National Health Insurance Scheme will play a key role in the rollout, as the policy aligns with government’s broader objective of achieving Universal Health Coverage and ensuring equitable access to healthcare for all citizens.

About one hundred deprived districts across all sixteen regions of the country have been selected to pilot the initiative.

Addressing the stakeholders on February 6, the Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said ‘‘our target is the deprived communities, deprived districts. So in every region, we are going to identify the deprived district in the region. We are not going to say, we are going up all the five northern part of the country, regions. We are going to select deprived districts and roll them out. So we are not going to go above 100 districts to start with.’’

He further explained that one will only need an identification card to access the service but there are limitations which will require a patient needing an NHIS card for further treatment.

“There was this debate about whether or not you should own a national health insurance card before you can access, it’s a no, all you need is a card that will identify you as a Ghanaian or resident in Ghana. So, whether it’s a passport or is a voter ID card or a national health insurance card or whatever, then that will allow you that kind of registration.

As I indicated. They are interconnected. So it’s free primary health care, but the free primary health care has a limit. At that point you need another tool to be able to access health care. So yes, the primary health is free, but when you are referred, it’s not free. So we’ll take that opportunity to sensitize the people to get onto the national health insurance. So, it’s not as though, because there’s free Primary Health Care, the national health insurance is useless.’’ He explained.

The stakeholders’ engagement is to ensure that all relevant stakeholders contribute meaningfully to the successful implementation of the policy. Meanwhile, civil society organizations have commended the initiative but raised concerns about aspects of the rollout plan.

The Vice Chairman of the Greater Accra coalition of NGO’S in health said “it’s a great initiative that will make life easier on the populace. My concerns however is the deprived districts that will be selected to start the roll out, what will be the determinants of a deprived district? That’s because we have deprived districts even in the urban centres.’’