GHS Chief Calls for Renewed Commitment to Free Primary Health Care
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, has called for renewed commitment to the implementation of the Free Primary Health Care (FPHC) programme to expand access to essential healthcare services in underserved communities.
Dr Akoriyea, who spent 18 years in Cuba, cited the legacy of the late former Cuban leader, Fidel Castro and Cuba’s healthcare system as examples of how universal access to healthcare could be pursued.
He made the call at an FPHC durbar held at Zuarungu in the Bolgatanga East District, where he reflected on his personal experience in Cuba and Ghana’s efforts to bring healthcare services closer to deprived communities.
“Today I feel extremely honoured to stand before you and break down something I do believe that each one of us deserves,” he said, describing access to healthcare as a fundamental right.
Dr Akoriyea said his experience in Cuba exposed him to a healthcare system in which medical services were accessible to all.
“A place where healthcare is absolutely free. You can get a heart transplant, kidney transplant. You can get anything under health for free,” he said.
He linked Castro’s legacy to the development of the FPHC programme and noted that many Ghanaians who studied in Cuba had returned home with experiences and lessons that could contribute to improving healthcare delivery.
The DG recounted his involvement in efforts to take specialist healthcare services directly to people in deprived communities.
He said Ghana received its first mobile advanced medical units about 13 years ago to provide specialist services outside major health facilities.
Dr Akoriyea, a former Director of the Institutional Care Division of the GHS, said he was entrusted with managing the mobile units until 2016.
“One of the things that happened was that we started in Accra and then we went to the regions,” he recalled.
Reflecting on a visit to the Western Region, he recalled a message from President John Dramani Mahama which urged health authorities to take services to communities rather than wait for residents to travel to health facilities.
“At that time we were taking the specialised services to the people,” he said.
Dr Akoriyea reaffirmed his commitment to help translate the FPHC programme into practical action, saying “I have been silently entrusted to lead this whole issue of implementing practically what we call the Free Primary Health Care.”
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