Free Primary Healthcare: Medical Evangelism At Your Doorstep
For 54 years, a man in Fian in the Upper West Region lived with an open wound — not out of choice, but because he could not afford care and had no health facility within reach.
His story is not isolated. It is the silent reality of thousands of Ghanaians living with preventable and manageable conditions that deteriorate simply because primary healthcare is out of reach.
Today, that narrative is changing.
Under the Free Primary Health Care Programme being implemented by H.E. President John Dramani Mahama, healthcare is no longer waiting in the hospital for patients to come. Healthcare is now walking to the people.
In Fian, the Free Primary Health Care team, led by the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, traced this man to his room and provided him with care for the first time in over five decades. This is what health equity looks like.
This house-to-house model, or Medical Evangelism, is exactly what our health system needs.
The Benefits of Free Primary Healthcare:
1. Early Detection Saves Lives: By checking vitals, screening for hypertension, diabetes, anaemia, and infections at the household level, we intercept diseases at Stage 1, not Stage 4. Prevention is not only better than cure; it is cheaper and more effective.
2. Decongesting Our Secondary Facilities: Over 60% of cases seen at district hospitals are primary healthcare cases that could have been managed in the community. This programme will reduce unnecessary OPD pressures and allow hospitals to focus on specialist and emergency care.
3. Building a Healthy Nation for Productivity: A nation cannot reset its economy with a sick workforce. Healthy people build healthy economies. Regular home-based checks ensure a productive, resilient population.
This is not just a programme. It is a public health intervention shifting from curative to preventive; from facility-based to people-centred care.
Kudos to President Mahama’s Reset Agenda for this bold, humane step in the health sector.
Primary healthcare at your door is not charity. It is a right, and it is smart healthcare.
By: Anatu Anne Seidu Bogobiri Esq.,
DCEO, National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA)
