Former President and 2024 NDC Flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, has pledged to upgrade all health centers to polyclinics if voted as president on December 7.
This he says will provide comprehensive medical services and enhance healthcare accessibility, especially in rural area.
He said healthcare access at the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) facilities, Health Centres, Clinics and Polyclinics would not require an active National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) membership card from the client.
Mr Mahama announced this at the weekend at Goripie, a community in the Wa East District, during his campaign tour of the Upper West Region.
He indicated that the initiative would form part of his grand agenda of ensuring the healthy lives of Ghanaians through his proposed “Community Healthcare Programme”.
The former President said, under the programme, an active NHIS membership card would only be required of a patient seeking healthcare services at the secondary health facilities including the district and regional hospitals and those in tertiary institutions.
Mr Mahama added that they would recruit community health workers and provide them with the necessary working tools to help prevent preventable diseases such as diabetes in the communities.
“We are going to recruit community health workers who are going to be responsible for preventive and community primary health care. They will visit your house from time to time.
“They will have the machine to measure your blood pressure to make sure that you don’t have hypertension and that you don’t come down with a stroke.