As part of measures by the government to attract and retain health professionals in communities where access to healthcare remains a challenge, the Deprived Area Incentive package policy, which had been gathering dust at the Ministry of Health according to the Ghana Medical Association, has been activated.
President John Dramani Mahama on Friday (September 11, 2026) announced a 20 per cent basic salary incentive for health workers who accept postings to deprived and underserved areas in Ghana.
The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission has been tasked with mapping out the eligible districts to operationalise the policy alongside infrastructure improvements.
Sahada Dramani reports from Wa that President Mahama said the process for introducing the incentive had begun and would take effect after the necessary approvals had been secured.
“For those who come to underserved areas, you get another 20 per cent of basic salary as an incentive for accepting postings,” he said.
He also announced plans to improve living and working conditions in deprived districts through the provision of roads, water, electricity and other essential infrastructure.
In addition, he said health workers would be provided with the necessary equipment to enable them to perform their duties effectively.
The President made the announcement while handing over equipment to the Fian Health Centre in the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa (DBI) District to support the implementation of the government’s Free Primary Healthcare Programme.
President Mahama said the government’s commitment to universal health coverage was based on the principle that every Ghanaian should have access to affordable healthcare, irrespective of where they lived.
He said Ghana’s population was about 34 million and that when the government assumed office, coverage under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) stood at about 60 per cent or slightly below.
According to him, that figure had increased to about 76 per cent within one and a half years.
He, however, said the remaining 24 per cent of the population still faced barriers to accessing healthcare, with distance from health facilities being one of the major challenges.
“Sometimes the reasons they don’t have access are due to distance from the health facility,” he said.
President Mahama said the government had consequently adopted an approach under which healthcare services would be taken directly to communities where people could not easily travel to health facilities.
“If these people cannot come to the health facility, we must take the health facility to them,” he said.
He explained that the approach formed the basis of the Free Primary Healthcare Programme, which covered CHPS compounds, health centres and polyclinics.
The services include basic diagnosis and treatment, antenatal and postnatal care, immunisation, health screening and treatment of common ailments such as malaria, typhoid and diarrhoea.
He said patients accessing services at the primary healthcare level were not required to present an NHIS card.
“If you go to a CHPS compound, a polyclinic, or a health centre, nobody should ask you for a health insurance card. You will be treated and given medicines free of charge,” President Mahama said.
He said the first phase of the Free Primary Healthcare Programme was targeting 150 of the most deprived districts in the country.
According to him, 135 districts had already been brought onto the programme, with the remaining 15 expected to be covered by the end of the year.
President Mahama said the programme was not focused solely on treating illnesses but also on prevention and early detection.
He said health professionals would therefore conduct home visits to screen residents and provide advice on healthy living.
The President urged Ghanaians to undergo health screening at least once a year, particularly for non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.
Equipment
The Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, said about 24,000 pieces of basic equipment had already been distributed to primary healthcare facilities across the country, with an additional 12,000 expected to be distributed.
He said the logistics would address one of the major challenges confronting primary healthcare delivery — inadequate equipment.
Mr Akandoh said the programme represented a shift from a system that largely waited for people to become sick before treating them to one that prioritised prevention and early detection.
“We are changing where healthcare begins from the hospital to the community,” he said.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, said the programme was already yielding results following its rollout across all 16 regions.
He said the programme had been implemented in 135 districts and that, within its first week, more than 54,000 households had been assessed, with more than 12,000 home visits conducted.
The exercise had also recorded antenatal visits and follow-ups, immunisation and child growth monitoring, as well as the identification of new cases of non-communicable diseases.
Dr Akoriyea said more than 5,700 households had been registered, while about 590 home visits had been conducted.
He said the programme had restored the dignity of people who had been excluded from the formal healthcare system because of poverty, distance or other barriers.
