News & Events

Ho Municipal Hospital Recognised for High Performance at 2025 Volta Regional Health Review

Ho Municipal Hospital was among the facilities honoured for high performance at the 2025 Annual Performance Review of the Volta Regional Health Directorate, held in Ho in March 2026. The hospital was recognised alongside Sogakope District Hospital, while Keta Municipal Hospital was named the region's overall best-performing hospital for the year.

Beyond the hospital category, the Keta Municipal Health Directorate received a high-performance award together with the North Tongu District Health Directorate, and the Afadzato South District Health Directorate was named the region's overall best-performing directorate.

Keta's Municipal Director of Health Services, Emmanuel Kona, attributed his facility's award to a deliberate focus on quality care, staff welfare, good customer service and teamwork. Participants at the review commended health workers across the region for their resilience in delivering essential services, and called for continued investment to sustain the gains made.

Volta Region Moves from Moderate to High Healthcare Performance

The Volta Region moved from a moderately-performing to a highly-performing region in the Ghana Health Service's annual assessment, the then Volta Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Chrysantus Kubio, announced at the 2024 Annual Health Sector Performance Review Conference in Ho. The region's overall score rose to 4.2, up from 3.8 the previous year.

The review, themed around strengthening primary healthcare systems for improved access to quality service delivery, brought together health professionals, policymakers and development partners to assess progress and plan further improvements. Dr Kubio credited the gains to strengthened primary healthcare systems and collaborative efforts among stakeholders, while urging continued investment to sustain them.

Speakers at the conference — including the Volta Regional Minister and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences — called for stronger support for frontline and community-level health workers, and for a system-wide approach that strengthens hospitals, health centres and CHPS compounds together rather than in isolation.

Free Primary Healthcare Programme Launched Nationwide

President John Dramani Mahama officially launched Ghana's Free Primary Healthcare Programme on 15 April 2026 at the Shai Osudoku District Hospital in the Greater Accra Region — a facility the President had commissioned a decade earlier and which has since been recognised for its record on maternal safety. The programme is a central pillar of the administration's push toward Universal Health Coverage.

The initiative is being rolled out in phases, beginning with 150 underserved districts nationwide and expanding to full national coverage by 2028. It is designed to complement, not replace, the National Health Insurance Scheme, filling gaps in access that persist in rural and underserved communities. Under the programme, essential services are provided free of charge at CHPS compounds, health centres and selected district facilities, including outpatient care, maternal and child health services, immunisation, basic laboratory tests, health education and disease screening.

A major focus of the policy is the rising burden of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, stroke and kidney failure. The programme introduces mandatory annual health screening for adult Ghanaians, supported by community mobilisation involving traditional and religious leaders. The Ministry of Health has said government has procured over 24,000 pieces of essential medical equipment — including incubators, diagnostic tools, hospital beds and ultrasound machines — to strengthen service delivery at the primary-care level, alongside new container-based service points in busy public areas such as markets and lorry parks.

The World Health Organisation publicly welcomed the launch as a significant step toward Universal Health Coverage. The policy has also drawn criticism from the parliamentary Minority, who argue it duplicates earlier annual health-screening initiatives introduced under the previous administration.