By: Celestine Avi
The Ghana Medical Trust Fund, popularly known as MahamaCares, has begun a nationwide needs assessment exercise to identify priority gaps in health facilities, starting with the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. The initiative is aimed at improving infrastructure, equipping hospitals, and strengthening care for non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
Administrator of the Fund, Madam Obuobia Darko Opoku, said the exercise would provide valuable data on NCD patients, including demographics, treatment outcomes, and the financial impact of diseases. She explained that the tour will also assess the availability and distribution of specialists, foster collaboration with hospital management, and ensure interventions align with institutional priorities.
“What we are supposed to be doing cannot be done by sitting at the Secretariat. It is important to go round, see what is happening, identify the gaps, and provide the needed support,” Madam Darko Opoku stated.
Welcoming the team, the Chief Executive Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Yakubu Seidu Adam, commended the initiative and highlighted the hospital’s central role in training and redistributing specialists nationwide. He stressed that as a referral centre, Korle Bu often handles complicated cases, while many patients with conditions like hypertension are managed at lower-level facilities.
“Korle Bu is a vital part of specialist training and redistribution. While we see complicated referral cases, many NCD cases such as hypertension are managed outside. Your regional tour will help capture the true national picture,” he explained
The Technical Director of the Fund, Dr. Norbert Kipo, underscored the importance of investing in modern diagnostic and treatment equipment. He emphasized the need to expand diagnostic facilities, diversify dialysis machines to avoid breakdown shortages, and improve cancer care services across regions.
“We must ensure modern medical care through reliable equipment. That means expanding diagnostic services, avoiding reliance on a single machine, and ensuring every region has the capacity to manage NCD cases effectively,” he said.
For her part, Madam Adwoa Twum Barima of WHO Ghana stressed the role of technology in tackling NCDs, noting that accurate and timely diagnosis has significantly improved outcomes in advanced countries. She warned, however, that Ghana’s health system often neglects the maintenance and servicing of sophisticated machines, leading to inefficiencies.
“Healthcare today is a technological challenge. Non-communicable disease care in advanced countries has improved mainly due to accurate, timely diagnosis. Unfortunately, here we often buy complex machines without proper service agreement, which creates inefficiencies. We must look at this holistically,” she advised.
A Consultant Paediatrician at the Korle But Teaching Hospital, Dr. Frank Owusu Sekyere, shared preliminary data on NCD cases, noting that while the figures may not be comprehensive, they reflect the growing burden on the health system. He pledged the hospital’s commitment to working with the MahamaCares team to refine the data and guide interventions.
The MahamaCares needs assessment will extend to all ten regional hospitals and five teaching hospitals before moving to district-level facilities. Findings from the exercise are expected to shape the Fund’s intervention programme in tackling the rising threat of non-communicable diseases across Ghana.
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