Ghana Medical Trust Fund to Roll Out Nationwide Patient Support in June 2026

The Ghana Medical Trust Fund, established under Act 1144 of 2025 as the flagship “Mahama Cares Initiative,” has announced that its nationwide patient support programme will officially roll out in June 2026, following a successful pilot phase that supported 50 patients across the country.

The Administrator of the Fund, Ms. Adjoa Obuobia Darko-Opoku, speaking at a news conference in Accra, detailed the Fund’s progress since it commenced full operations in September 2025.

She described the initiative as President John Dramani Mahama’s answer to the burden of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which account for 43 percent of all deaths in Ghana.

“President Mahama made a sacred pledge that no Ghanaian should be forced to choose between their livelihood and their life,” Ms. Darko-Opoku stated. “He envisioned a Ghana where a diagnosis of kidney failure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, or diabetes is not a poverty sentence for a family. Today, that vision is becoming a life-saving reality.”

The Ghana Medical Trust Fund is a dedicated, well-funded vehicle designed to provide financial relief and world-class specialised care for chronic NCDs, including cancers, kidney disease, cardiovascular conditions, stroke, and other complex medical conditions. The Fund is financed through 20 percent of the National Health Insurance Levy, government budgetary allocations, contributions, grants, investments, and donations from patriotic institutions and individuals.

Ms. Darko-Opoku expressed profound gratitude to President Mahama, who led by example by donating six months of his salary to the Trust Fund. Government appointees also donated portions of their salaries, while corporate Ghana, philanthropic organisations, and individual citizens have contributed generously.

Four Strategic Pillars

The Trust Fund operates around four strategic pillars. These are financial support for eligible patients with chronic NCDs, investment in medical equipment and infrastructure to improve access to specialist care nationwide, specialist workforce development through the training of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and allied health professionals, and support for medical research into prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic diseases.

The Administrator clarified that the Trust Fund complements, not duplicates, the work of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA). Ghana’s healthcare financing architecture is a three-tier pyramid. At the base is free primary health care, delivering disease prevention and health promotion. In the middle sits the NHIA, which covers broad outpatient and inpatient care needs. At the apex is the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, which focuses on specialised tertiary care where NHIS coverage is limited or unavailable. A joint technical working committee with the NHIA has been established to define the benefit package and align conditions covered under the Fund.

A comprehensive nationwide needs assessment across 21 facilities, including teaching, regional, and referral hospitals in all six newly created regions, revealed urgent deficits. The assessment found only two MRI machines and five mammogram machines nationwide, only two radiotherapy machines in the public sector plus one in the private sector, both located only in Accra and Kumasi. In the entire northern sector of Ghana, only two practising cardiologists serve millions of people. These findings are guiding major intervention programmes.

On infrastructure, construction of three state-of-the-art cardiology centres is underway at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, and Tamale Teaching Hospital. These centres will include catheterisation laboratories, hybrid theatres, intensive care units, consulting rooms, dedicated oxygen systems, on-site pharmacies, and investigation laboratories.

On equipment distribution, the Trust Fund has facilitated distribution of dialysis machines, ICU beds, and patient monitors to Sunyani Teaching Hospital, Holy Family Hospital in Techiman, and the Volta Regional Hospital in Ho. These were donations from medical equipment supply companies, redistributed where most needed.

On specialist training, the Trust Fund has established strategic partnerships with the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons to expand specialist training centres and decentralise postgraduate medical education, as well as with the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives and the Ghana College of Pharmacists. The Fund has invested GH¢36,230,475 to train 100 specialist pharmacists and 100 specialist nurses in oncology, nephrology, cardiology, endocrinology, and neurology. Trainees come from all regions and will be required to serve in their local communities, ensuring that expertise is not a city-only privilege.

Other partnerships include the TeleCell Foundation, which has provided state-of-the-art cervical cancer screening equipment to Sefwi Wiawso Government Hospital, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, and Tamale Teaching Hospital, as well as Project CURE, which is facilitating donation of medical equipment and supplies to hospitals across Ghana.

Before the nationwide rollout, the Board of Trustees approved a pilot phase covering 50 patients in February 2026. This tested systems for patient onboarding, treatment monitoring, and claims management. Beneficiaries, ranging from six months old to 85 years, received support for heart surgeries, brain surgeries, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and orthopaedic surgeries across 11 hospitals. Over GH¢4.8 million has been expended on these patients so far.

The nationwide patient support programme officially rolls out in June 2026. Following consultations with the technical oversight committee and subject matter experts, the Board has approved an initial benefit package focused on breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, and childhood cancers including leukaemia, lymphoma, soft tissue sarcomas, retinoblastoma, and nephroblastoma. Additional disease conditions will be added by the end of the year. Leading oncologists have been engaged to refine standard treatment pathways, and the National Medicines List has been updated to include newer, cutting-edge therapies.

To benefit from the Trust Fund, an applicant must be a Ghanaian citizen, hold an active National Health Insurance card, and have a medical condition falling within the approved conditions. Patients cannot walk directly into the secretariat to request support. The process is digital and dignified. Applications are initiated by a specialist clinician at an enlisted hospital via a dedicated digital platform.

The patient support programme will initially be delivered through 29 enlisted hospitals strategically distributed across the country. These include all teaching hospitals—Korle Bu, Komfo Anokye, Cape Coast, Tamale, Ho, and Sunyani—as well as regional hospitals in Takoradi, Accra, Eastern, Western, Northern, Upper East, and Volta. Other facilities include Winneba Trauma and Specialist Hospital, Kumasi South Hospital, Sefwi Wiawso Government Hospital, Goaso Municipal Hospital, Bole Municipal Hospital, Nare Government Hospital, Holy Family Hospital in Techiman, Baptist Medical Centre, University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC), 37 Military Hospital, International Maritime Hospital, Bank Hospital, Trust Specialist Hospital, UraCare Multi-Specialist Hospital, Aisha Hospital in Tamale, and St Michael Specialist Hospital at Lapaz in Accra.

A robust digital platform integrates with hospital management systems for patient onboarding, clinical auditing, and claims processing. Installation and training have already commenced across participating hospitals. Trained patient navigators have been deployed in all enlisted hospitals to assist with enrollment, explain treatment pathways, and help families navigate the entire continuum of care.

Ms. Darko-Opoku outlined a bold vision for massive nationwide investment in health infrastructure, including establishing comprehensive oncology and cancer centres across Ghana. Currently, patients from across the country must travel to Accra or Kumasi for radiotherapy, often waiting two to three months for treatment. The Trust Fund aims to establish at least three comprehensive cancer centres capable of providing integrated diagnostics, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and advanced modalities including Gamma Knife systems, starting with the Ridge Hospital as a pilot project.

“The Ghana Medical Trust Fund represents more than a healthcare financing institution,” the Administrator concluded. “It represents hope for families. It represents dignity for patients. It represents government’s commitment to ensuring that no Ghanaian is denied life-saving specialised care simply because they cannot afford it.”

She encouraged the public to support the Fund by dialling *25# on any mobile network in Ghana to contribute. “Let us continue to build a Ghana where healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and where ‘Mahama Cares’ is not a slogan but a lived experience for every citizen,” she said.

Story by Linda Asare