The Ghana Medical Trust Fund (GMTF) has redirected its mandate from subsidising individual medical bills toward structural capital investment, committing approximately US$10 million to a new Diagnostic and Imaging Centre at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital alongside new cardiac catheterisation laboratories in Kumasi and Tamale and a planned oncology complex at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, according to MyJoyOnline. The shift reflects findings from a nationwide needs assessment indicating that direct financial assistance alone cannot resolve care deficits for chronic and non-communicable disease patients.
Allocation shift away from bill subsidies
Administrator Adjoa Obuobia Darko-Opoku, speaking at an event organised by the State Interests and Governance Authority, said the assessment examined equipment shortages, specialist gaps, patient travel distances, and waiting times across the system. GMTF's revised framework now rests on four pillars: financial assistance, medical equipment and infrastructure, specialist training, and research into non-communicable diseases. Corporate Ghana continues to back the initiative with parallel funding.
Cardiac and cancer infrastructure pipeline
GMTF is funding catheterisation laboratory construction at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and Tamale Teaching Hospital, with full commissioning and operationalisation expected by year-end. The programme follows GMTF's earlier support for the rebuild and expansion of the catheterisation lab at Korle Bu's National Cardiothoracic Centre after a fire incident. At the same site, the fund is developing an Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Centre in partnership with private investors. The planned facility will integrate a PET-CT scanner, linear accelerators, MRI and CT scanners, and a chemotherapy suite, consolidating cancer diagnosis, advanced imaging, treatment, and nuclear medicine within the public system.
Diagnostic capacity, training, and equipment stewardship
The US$10 million Diagnostic and Imaging Centre at Greater Accra Regional Hospital — financed by the KGL Group — will deliver MRI, CT, mammography, digital X-ray, and fluoroscopy services, with site preparation already underway. GMTF has indicated it will retain maintenance and servicing responsibility for the equipment it deploys, addressing the recurring pattern of donated medical hardware falling into disrepair post-installation. Future placement of donated equipment will be tied to documented regional demand rather than ad hoc allocation. Separately, the fund's digital case-management platform, GMTF Care, has onboarded more than 500 patients following a 50-patient pilot. A partnership with professional colleges targets a baseline of at least 10 specialists per region within the next several years, addressing one of the structural deficits the assessment identified.