Administrator of the Ghana Medical Trust Fund (GMTF), Adjoa Obuobia Darko-Opoku, has challenged mining companies to rethink their social responsibility by investing in healthcare systems in their host communities.

She made the call at the National Mining Dialogue 2026 in Accra, held under the theme “Rethinking the Social License to Operate.”

Addressing mining executives, investors and policymakers, Ms Darko-Opoku argued that Ghana’s greatest resource is its people.

“You do not extract value from the soil. You extract value through people.”

She warned that weaknesses in the country’s healthcare system can affect everyone, regardless of wealth.

“At 2:00 AM, money cannot buy time. In a medical emergency, your wealth does not save you; the infrastructure nearest to you does.”

Ms Darko-Opoku said families can spend decades building their lives, only for a serious illness such as cancer to wipe out their savings.

She said the situation is even more difficult for people outside Accra who have to travel long distances to access specialised treatment.

By the time they reach facilities capable of providing the needed care, she said, “the family is financially ruined, the patient is significantly weaker, and the cost of treatment has doubled.”

The GMTF Administrator also cited findings from a nationwide needs assessment conducted across teaching, regional and referral hospitals.

According to her, Ghana’s public tertiary health sector had only two functional MRI machines, five mammogram machines and two public radiotherapy machines for cancer treatment.

She added that the entire northern sector had only two practising cardiologists without the appropriate equipment to serve millions of people.

Ms Darko-Opoku urged mining companies to move beyond traditional corporate social responsibility projects such as roads, schools and boreholes.

“A true Social License cannot simply mean, ‘The community tolerates our presence.’ It must mean, ‘Because this company operates here, our people live longer, healthier lives.’”

She challenged mining companies to partner with the GMTF to identify healthcare needs in their operational areas, provide medical equipment, support specialist training and develop health infrastructure that can outlive mining operations.

She said companies should be able to point to facilities that have directly saved lives in their host communities.

“We didn’t just extract gold from your soil. We built the regional Cancer Centre that saved your mother. We installed the Cath Lab that saved your chief.”

“That is not CSR,” she declared. “That is an unshakable, generational Social License.”

Ms Darko-Opoku said the legacy of mining companies should ultimately be measured not only by the amount of gold extracted or profits made, but also by the lives improved and saved.

“The gold beneath our soil is valuable. But Ghana’s greatest resource has never been underground. Ghana’s greatest resource is the Ghanaian.”

She called on corporate Ghana, particularly the mining industry, to help build a legacy centred on healthcare, dignity and survival.

“Let us rethink the Social License. Let us build a legacy of health, dignity and survival. Because when life is on the line, none of us can stand alone.”