The Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has raised concerns about the state of equipment in Ghana’s primary healthcare facilities, warning that widespread shortages are undermining the delivery of essential services.

Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Monday, April 13, Mr Akandoh disclosed that a nationwide assessment had revealed significant gaps in the availability of basic medical equipment across the country.

“Many primary healthcare level facilities do not yet have all the equipment required to deliver the full range of essential services,” he stated, highlighting the challenges facing frontline healthcare delivery.

He revealed that data from the assessment, which covered about 60 per cent of health facilities, showed that only a small proportion were adequately equipped.

“Indeed, data from a nationwide survey covering about 60% of our health facilities showed that only 5% had the full complement of basic equipment. And the situation is even worse for our public health facilities. Only 2% had all the basic equipment that was checked in the assessment,” he said.

The Minister cautioned that the shortfalls could undermine efforts to strengthen primary healthcare under the government’s free healthcare policy, stressing the need for urgent interventions to improve infrastructure and service delivery across the sector.