On April 29, 2025 President John Dramani Mahama launched the Medical Trust Fund in Accra. The Trust, which is popularly known as MahamaCares, according to a Daily Graphic report, is a landmark initiative introduced by the government to decisively confront the growing burden of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The fund, the report continued, would support specialist-level treatment for a range of chronic diseases, including cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney failure, stroke and other complications.
It will also progressively expand to cover convalescent (recovery) care, palliative (pain management) services and home-based support.
Support from the fund will be based on formal applications, which will be carefully vetted. It will focus on costs not currently covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The main source of finance for the fund is proceeds from the uncapped portion of the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL), which is 2.5 per cent of value added goods and services and value of import charges, according to the promoters.
President Mahama in his address appealed to organisations in the public and private sectors to devote a portion of their annual social investments to support the MahamaCares Initiative.
He explained that those who would benefit from the fund were either their clients or staff; therefore, supporting the cause would be a worthy cause for both the benefactors and beneficiaries.
Indeed this is a worthy cause and The Chronicle commends the president for this obvious social intervention. We equally support his call that business executives and those who have the financial wherewithal should contribute to the fund.
We are, however, not surprised about the introduction of this fund, because the president and the party he belongs to – the National Democratic Congress (NDC) – have always been criticised by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for failing to introduce a single social intervention programme to cushion the vulnerable in the society.
NPP have always touted the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the various modules of the National Youth programmes and Free Senior High School among a host of others, as some of the social intervention programmes they introduced. Though the NDC started the NHIS on pilot basis in the then Brong-Ahafo Region, it is an undeniable fact that it was the NPP, under President Kufuor, that executed the national rollout of the policy and they deserve the credit for it.
Obviously, President Mahama, having come under heavy criticisms for failing to implement any social policy, decided to think outside the box and the result is what we are seeing now – MahamaCares. Indeed, many Ghanaians are dying of cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney failures, stroke and other complications.
It is, therefore, welcome news that MahamaCares has been introduced to sooth the pains of the people suffering from the above mentioned diseases. But whilst we applaud the president for his foresight, The Chronicle is uncomfortable with the name MahamaCares. In our view, the name has politicised this laudable initiative.
President Mahama must, therefore, have a second look at the name. If it was not chosen by him but his political appointees, then he should immediately instruct them to review the name.
Looking at the political vindictiveness we are tricking ourselves to believe as practice of democracy, there is no way this initiative would be sustained in future, if the NDC and President Mahama leave power – because it has been politicised right from birth.
When President Barack Obama introduced a similar initiative in America and decided to name it as ObamaCare, it did not transition beyond his tenure of office. The no nonsense Donald Trump who took over from him decided to throw it overboard.
This alone should inform President Mahama that the attachment of his name to the fund will lead to political assault on it when he leaves office, and those who are going to suffer for this will be the very vulnerable people he is trying to protect today.
Unless, of course, he decides to back the name with law, but again we should not gloss over the fact that some of the public office holders who have security of tenure are being today removed. This means the legislation will only work today, but may not do so tomorrow.
This is the reason why we are advising the president to change the name and remove the political tag to the laudable Medical Trust Fund. We once again commend him and hope more of such initiatives are already in the pipeline.
