Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, says the government’s Free Primary Healthcare initiative will help reduce Ghana’s disease burden by preventing illnesses and detecting health conditions early.
Speaking in an interview in Bolgatanga, on Thursday September 10, Akandoh said the initiative is shifting attention from treating advanced illnesses to preventing diseases before they become serious.
He explained that the prevention and health-promotion component of the programme will see health professionals moving from house to house and community to community to screen residents and identify health conditions at an early stage.
“The main motive of the prevention and promotion aspect is one, to prevent the diseases in the first place from happening, and two, to detect the diseases early,” He explained.
Akandoh said early detection is particularly important because some health conditions can develop silently without patients knowing that they are affected.
He cited hypertension as one such condition, warning that many people may only become aware of their status after suffering serious complications.
“There are more than about 70 percent of people who are hypertensive who do not know their status. And these conditions, they progress silently,” Akandoh stated.
The Health Minister said health workers will screen residents, including checking their blood pressure and sugar levels, and refer those who require further medical attention to appropriate health facilities.
He explained that the approach will help prevent diseases from progressing to complicated stages where treatment becomes more difficult and expensive.
Akandoh said the initiative is also intended to change the country’s approach to healthcare by making prevention and health promotion an important part of healthcare delivery.
“Prevention is always better than cure, and prevention is not only good medicine. It’s also good economics,” He stressed.
He added that healthcare must begin from communities and homes, rather than waiting for people to become seriously ill before they seek medical attention.
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