Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has assured Ghanaians the country remains free of Ebola and the risk low, even as the virus kills hundreds in a Central African epidemic.
The outbreak he referred to is centred on the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global health emergency in May over a dangerous Ebola strain that had killed more than 240 people by late May. No case has been recorded in Ghana or anywhere in West Africa.
Speaking on TV3’s Hot Issues, the minister urged calm but stopped short of detailing fresh containment steps. He has been consistent on the core point: “no cases have been recorded in West Africa, including our dear country, Ghana.” Ghana has tightened screening at the Accra airport and at its main research and isolation centres, with support from WHO.
Most of the interview looked past Ebola. Akandoh said the government had deployed 200 mobile health kiosks across the 150 districts in the first phase of its Free Primary Healthcare policy, which offers free basic care at the primary level and is meant to reach the millions of Ghanaians without health insurance. He insisted the National Health Insurance Scheme could carry the added cost, calling the funding sustainable.
On the stalled Agenda 111 hospital programme, begun under the previous government, Akandoh confirmed that 35 of the projects were left out of the 2026 budget. President John Dramani Mahama, he said, has directed that money be found to finish, equip, and open them, possibly through the mid year budget review or the 2027 budget.
He also pushed responsibility onto local assemblies, saying he would be surprised if any district could not build a basic access road to its community health post.
Akandoh further said cases from a recent report had been referred to the Economic and Organised Crime Office and the Attorney General for action, without naming those involved.
The minister has cast the wider agenda as a reset of a health system long strained by gaps in funding, infrastructure, and access.
