The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, has called for stronger commitment from stakeholders to ensure the effective implementation of the Free Primary Health Care (FPHC) programme.

He said the initiative must prioritise communities that continue to face difficulties accessing essential healthcare services, stressing that quality healthcare should be brought closer to people rather than requiring them to travel long distances to seek treatment.

Dr Akoriyea made the call at a Free Primary Health Care durbar in Zuarungu in the Bolgatanga East District on Friday, August 14, 2026.

Drawing on his 18-year experience in Cuba, he said the country’s healthcare model demonstrated the importance of making medical services accessible to all.

“Today I feel extremely honoured to stand before you and break down something I do believe that each one of us deserve,” he said, describing access to healthcare as a fundamental right.

He also reflected on the influence of the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro and the lessons he said Ghanaian professionals who studied in Cuba brought back to the country.

According to him, those experiences could help shape efforts to expand healthcare access under the FPHC programme.

The GHS Director-General further highlighted Ghana’s previous efforts to take specialist services directly to underserved communities, recalling the introduction of mobile advanced medical units about 13 years ago.

He said the initiative began in Accra before being expanded to other regions, where he was responsible for managing the units until 2016.

Dr Akoriyea said his experience with the mobile health programme reinforced the importance of taking medical services to communities instead of waiting for residents to travel to health facilities.

“At that time we were taking the specialized services to the people,” he said.

He pledged to play a leading role in translating the Free Primary Health Care policy into practical services for Ghanaians, particularly those in deprived areas.

“I have been silently entrusted to lead this whole issue of implementing practically what we call the Free Primary Health Care,” he added.