The member of parliament of Akim Adam and former deputy health minister, Hon. Alexander Akwasi Acquah, has stated that Ghana is not yet prepared to wean itself off donor support, cautioning that any abrupt withdrawal could expose deep structural weaknesses in the country’s health financing system.
Speaking on PM Express, the former deputy health minister and member of Parliament’s Health Committee stressed that while self-reliance is desirable, the current system is not strong enough to sustain critical health services without external assistance.
“Well, currently, I would say no, we just have to do something about it,” he stated.
His comments follow renewed debate over Ghana’s readiness to independently fund its healthcare sector after the country reportedly turned down a US health support arrangement.
Mr Acquah argued that challenges persist even when aid is available, citing inefficiencies in clearing donated medical supplies at the ports.
“Even though we had aid in terms of logistics from foreign partners, we could not just clear them from the ports,” he noted, adding that taxation of such aid further complicates access.
He questioned how Ghana could sustain its health system without external backing under current conditions.
“How do we survive if we say we want to wean ourselves totally from them?” he asked.
Referencing the Abuja Declaration, which urges African governments to allocate at least 15% of their budgets to health, Mr Acquah pointed out that the framework still assumes continued support from development partners.
He emphasised that the immediate priority should be addressing inefficiencies and waste within the public sector to maximise available resources.
“There is a lot of waste within our public sector. We have to look into our systems and cut it off,” he said, echoing similar concerns raised by economist Nii Moi Thompson.
The former deputy minister warned that the impact of declining aid is already being felt across the health sector, particularly following reduced support from the United States.
“The health sector is suffering, because I know what is happening, especially when the USA and others got cut off,” he said, noting that several programmes had relied heavily on such funding.
He disclosed that recent engagements with the Ghana Health Service revealed growing concerns among programme managers about the sustainability of funding if urgent reforms are not implemented.
While acknowledging that other international partners remain engaged, Mr Acquah said Ghana must use the window of continued support to rethink its financing strategy and strengthen domestic resource mobilisation.
“It gives us an opportunity to start looking beyond it. Let’s look at our source,” he added, urging a gradual and strategic transition rather than an abrupt exit from donor dependence.
