The Member of Parliament for Kwadaso, Prof. Kingsley Nyarko, has openly criticized the recently passed Ghana Medical Trust Fund Bill, 2025—popularly known as the Mahama Cares Programme—calling it “completely needless and unnecessary.”
In an interview on Channel One Newsroom on Tuesday, July 22, Prof. Nyarko argued that the core aim of the bill—to support patients suffering from chronic and life-threatening non-communicable diseases such as cancer, kidney failure, diabetes, and stroke—could have been addressed within the framework of the existing National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
“For me, I think it is completely needless and unnecessary because we have the National Health Insurance Scheme.
“This bill seeks to provide medical support to persons who have non-communicable diseases, largely,” he said.
“But the current Health Insurance Act could be amended to cater for this ailment. Simple. You do not need a sacred intervention to achieve that.”
Despite his objections, Parliament has approved the bill, clearing the way for the establishment of a national fund to ease the financial burden of Ghanaians battling life-threatening illnesses. However, the bill’s passage has not been without controversy.
The Minority Caucus strongly opposed the decision to finance the programme by reallocating 20 percent of the NHIS levy to the new fund.
They warned that diverting resources from the NHIS—which is already plagued with underfunding and operational inefficiencies—could severely compromise its ability to serve the broader population.
The government, on the other hand, insists that the Mahama Cares initiative is a bold and targeted intervention to support vulnerable patients and families who fall outside the scope of traditional healthcare financing.
