Government is seeking private equity and development finance institutions to help rebuild its diagnostics and treatment infrastructure after years of equipment failures left major hospitals unable to deliver basic services. President John Dramani Mahama made the appeal at the World Health Expo Leaders Africa Summit in Accra on Tuesday, urging investors to co-finance the continent’s health industrialization.
President Mahama said government funding alone cannot sustain the country’s medical systems, many of which have deteriorated despite a previous retooling effort that installed MRI, CT and laboratory equipment across public hospitals. He revealed that more than 250 million dollars was spent installing MRIs, CT scanners and laboratory tools, but many are now broken down.
The equipment failures have undermined national health delivery and slowed rollout of the new two point one billion cedi Ghana Medical Trust Fund, also called MahamaCares. Fund managers reported that widespread breakdowns in diagnostics equipment have made it difficult to enroll patients or process claims for high cost treatments such as cancer care and dialysis.
The failure of public sector maintenance has created severe access gaps, especially for patients outside Accra and Kumasi. Mahama cited cases in which patients had to be transported by ambulance to private facilities for CT or MRI scans because public hospitals lacked working machines. He stated that public private partnerships are not optional anymore but a must to restore diagnostic and treatment capacity nationwide.
Government now plans to channel investment into diagnostic imaging, laboratories, cancer treatment, dialysis and biomedical engineering services through structured partnerships with private operators. The model is intended to prevent previous cycles when state owned equipment collapsed within a few years due to weak maintenance and procurement systems.
The shift comes as Ghana confronts a rising burden of noncommunicable diseases, which account for more than 45 percent of morbidity nationally. Officials say early detection capacity is critical, yet limited equipment uptime has reduced the effectiveness of planned reforms. Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh noted that noncommunicable diseases account for approximately 43 percent of all cause mortality in Ghana.
The two day summit, held under the theme Catalyzing Africa’s Health Revolution through Investment, Innovation, Impact and Infrastructure, brought together heads of state, health ministers, global investors, industry leaders and multilateral executives from across Africa and beyond. The event aimed to explore strategies to accelerate healthcare transformation and build resilient health systems on the continent.
Government is positioning its domestic health agenda within a broader continental push for health sovereignty. President Mahama called on pharmaceutical manufacturers, vaccine producers, medtech firms and biotech companies to co invest in local production hubs. He argued that Africa’s experience during COVID-19 demonstrated the risks of dependence on foreign supply chains.
Health Minister Akandoh said the country is building a national health intelligence system and expanding digital health tools to improve disease surveillance and resource allocation. He described primary health care and the Delta Medica Trust Fund, focused on training health professionals, as core elements of Ghana’s transformation strategy.
Trade Minister Elizabeth Ofosu Adjare added that Ghana is aligning regulatory frameworks with global standards and developing industrial parks for pharmaceutical and medical device production. She said the African Continental Free Trade Area provides a unified market to scale the Made in Africa manufacturing agenda.
The Ghana Medical Trust Fund was officially launched in April 2025 to provide financial support for Ghanaians with serious, costly chronic illnesses such as cancer, kidney failure and heart disease not fully covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme. Parliament approved the fund in July 2025, allocating two point one billion cedis for its implementation.
The fund will be primarily financed through the uncapped portion of the National Health Insurance Levy, government budgetary support, voluntary contributions, grants and investment income. Initial projections suggest the fund requires approximately three billion cedis annually over the first three years of operation.
President Mahama told delegates that current political alignment across African governments and growing investor interest creates a favorable window for capital deployment. The summit provided a platform to align policy, innovation and investment to ensure every African has access to quality healthcare through collaboration and strategic partnerships.
Health officials noted that Ghana currently needs about 6,500 additional specialists of all categories to deliver adequate care by 2030. The country has about 2,000 specialists in training and could halve the gap if all regional hospitals were fully equipped to deliver postgraduate medical programs.
