Gov’t targets private equity, DFIs to finance nationwide diagnostics and treatment expansion

By Joshua Worlasi AMLANU

Government is seeking private equity and development finance institutions to help rebuild its diagnostics and treatment infrastructure after years of equipment failures left major hospitals unable to deliver basic services.

President John Dramani Mahama made this known at the WHX Leaders Africa Summit in Accra, urging DFIs, private equity and venture investors to co-finance the continent’s health industrialisation.

President Mahama said government funding alone cannot sustain the country’s medical systems, many of which have deteriorated despite a previous retooling effort that installed MRI, CT and laboratory equipment across public hospitals.

“We spent more than US$250million installing MRIs, CT scanners and laboratory tools, but many of them are now broken down,” he said.

“The experience demonstrated why PPPs are not optional anymore; they are a must if we are to restore diagnostic and treatment capacity nationwide. The opportunity is enormous,” he added.

Much of that equipment is now out of service, undermining national health delivery and slowing rollout of the new GH¢2.1billion (US$200million) Ghana Medical Trust Fund, also called MahamaCare.

According to the president, fund managers reported that widespread breakdowns in diagnostics equipment have made it difficult to enroll patients or process claims for high-cost treatments such as cancer care and dialysis.

He said the absence of functioning machines has exposed a structural weakness in the health system, adding that “PPPs are not optional anymore”.

The failure of public-sector maintenance has created severe access gaps, especially for patients outside Accra and Kumasi. Mahama cited cases in which patients had to be transported by ambulance to private facilities for CT or MRI scans because public hospitals lacked working machines.

Government now plans to channel investment into diagnostic imaging, laboratories, cancer treatment, dialysis and biomedical engineering services through structured partnerships with private operators.

President Mahama said the model is intended to prevent a repeat of previous cycles when state-owned equipment collapsed within a few years due to weak maintenance and procurement systems.

The shift comes as Ghana confronts a rising burden of noncommunicable diseases, which account for more than 45 percent of morbidity nationally. Officials say early detection capacity is critical, yet limited equipment uptime has reduced the effectiveness of planned reforms.

Government is also positioning its domestic health agenda within a broader continental push for “health sovereignty”.

The president called on pharmaceutical manufacturers, vaccine producers, medtech firms and biotech companies to co-invest in local production hubs. He argued that Africa’s experience during COVID-19 demonstrated the risks of dependence on foreign supply chains.

Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said the country is building a national health intelligence system and expanding digital health tools to improve disease surveillance and resource allocation. He described primary health care and the Delta-Medica Trust Fund – focused on training health professionals – as core elements of Ghana’s transformation strategy.

Trade Minister Elizabeth Ofosu Adjare added that Ghana is aligning regulatory frameworks with global standards and developing industrial parks for pharmaceutical and medical device production.

She said the African Continental Free Trade Area provides a unified market to scale the ‘Made-in-Africa’ manufacturing agenda.

President Mahama told delegates that current political alignment across African governments and growing investor interest creates a favourable window for capital deployment.

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