Fellow citizens, as the talking drums fade, we turn to health🩺 — the lifeblood of every community. The bird has begun to fly. In 2025, we heard promises. In 2026, we see progress. The President declared in Parliament: “We are reforming and expanding the health sector at multiple levels across the country.” Let us examine this transformation with clarity and cultural depth.
Sector Breakdown: Educating the Nation
1. Expansion of Rural and Community Clinics
- Mahama’s administration is broadening access to healthcare by revamping and expanding clinics in underserved rural areas.
- Focus on primary healthcare, maternal health, and reducing distances for medical assistance.
- Why it matters: Rural clinics provide preventive care, reduce strain on major hospitals, and serve as community health centers.
- Proverb: — “if the bird does not fly, it goes mad.” The bird of healthcare reforms has now taken flight.
2. Strengthening Eye-Care Programs
- Ongoing efforts to improve eye-care and reduce the backlog of cataract surgeries.
- Deployment of optical vans to deliver eye-care services to remote regions.
- Why it matters: Clearer vision enhances quality of life and productivity.
- Proverb: — “it is the bird in flight that sees afar.” Eye-care allows citizens to see a brighter future.
3. Enhancing NHIS Coverage and Quality
- Ongoing reforms to enhance and widen the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
- Expansion of coverage to include more services for vulnerable populations.
- Elimination of ghost names and improvement of claims processing.
- Why it matters: A stronger NHIS ensures access to healthcare for all, especially the poor and marginalized.
- Proverb: — “slowly mend, deeply heal.” NHIS is being mended to provide deeper and fairer healing.
4. Tackling Systemic Challenges
- Addressing the “no-bed syndrome”, uneven distribution of health workers, and delayed salary payments.
- Government funding for health now accounts for 72% of total health spending, up from 56.8% in 2023.
- Why it matters: Systemic reforms ensure dignity in care and fairness in service delivery.
- Proverb: — “to receive treatment is to receive life.”
From the assurances of 2025, Ghana’s health sector is now taking flight with action and accountability in 2026. Health is not merely the absence of illness, but the presence of community strength. Let us nurture this bird, for when it flies, every village gains the wings of wellness.
Tomorrow, we turn to Education, fetching what was forgotten.
✍️ Retired Senior Citizen
For and on behalf of all Senior Citizens of the Republic of Ghana 🇬🇭
Teshie-Nungua
[email protected]
