“The executives of GhanaCare, Ltd from Cleveland, Ohio made GhanaCare health care program presentations in a “Town Hall” meeting at Presbyterian Church of Ghana and The Ghanaian Catholic Community at St Andrews Parish both in Toronto, Canada recently.

The Executive Vice President, Mr. John Pokryfki outlined the immediate and future goals of GhanaCare-----a unique initiative of health care delivery service in Ghana. Mr. Pokryfki said the goals of GhanaCare affiliated to HealthAfrica, Inc. are to make quality, affordable health care services available to all Ghanaians living in Ghana by promoting cost effective care in the private sector in Ghana using a managed care model and other innovative financing arrangement.

Mr. Pokryfki said the GhanaCare program is designed so that Ghanaians living abroad would help finance health care for their loved ones in Ghana by sponsoring them through modest annual fees ranging from $100.00 to $420.00 US. An individual member and family dependents are entitled to annual physicals, routine visits to the family doctor, the first seven (7) days in the hospital and physical therapy all at no charge. GhanaCare, Mr. Pokryfki continued, is also designed to eliminate financial barriers to health care and thus encourage early and frequent visits by members to the doctor, avoiding costly care after the onset of serious illness or disease. GhanaCare provider established a ‘health profile’ for each new member so that the doctor can develop a health promotion plan or treatment plan if illness already exists.

GhanaCare have negotiated agreements with twenty-three (23) hospitals and clinics serving all regions in Ghana. The individual agreement between the hospitals and GhanaCare provides, both individual and collective, for efficient patient care and continuous quality improvement.

Mr. Pokryfki said that it also GhanaCare goal to implement a health care model that encourages self reliance among Ghanaian nationals and indigenous Ghanaians and which is financially and structurally sustainable over the long run.

Mr Pokryfki told the congregation that this model of health care delivery which is the first of its kind in Africa, however the parent company HealthAfrica, Inc. is working to propagate the concept in other parts of Africa. He also said that The United Nations, the World Bank and other parties have expressed interest in GhanaCare and would like to become more involved with them.

Dr Emmanuel Tuffuor, a board certified general internal medicine physician the architect of GhanaCare gave a brief account of his all-consumed desire to create financially sustainable health care for his fellow Ghanaians left behind in Ghana. The Aniwah Medical Center (AMC), opened by Dr. Tuffuor, thrives in the rural village of Emena, just few miles outside the regional capital of Kumasi in great measure due to the dedicated physicians, nurses and other professionals committed to serving the health care needs of Ghanaians. AMC employs more than eighty (80) people in the community and has become the economic basis for further growth and development in the area. Its reputation and popularity have even led it to be fondly called the “American” hospital.

Dr. Tuffuor, envisioning the need to be creative in financing health care in Ghana, especially as it related to AMC, created a company called Complete Basic 2000 (CBH) in 1992 to be organizational conduit for financial and technology transfer from the United States and other western countries to Ghana. Stated concisely, CBH was a mechanism to secure hard currency from Ghanaians having a higher standard of living in the western countries and to make those funds available to the hospital and or clinic in Ghana on a “capitated” basis. The idea of financing health care at AMC through Complete Basic Health 2000 (CBH2000) is the forerunner of GhanaCare, Ltd.

Dr. Tuffuor and his team of experts are on extensive, and resource-consuming communication campaign to get the “GhanaCare” message to Ghanaian nationals living in the United States, Canada and Europe to provide them with the information necessary to sponsor a loved one in Ghana. Without the knowledge of the program, Dr. Tuffuor said, Ghanaians will miss an opportunity to take responsibility for the health of their loved ones in Ghana.

Present at the “Town Hall” meeting was Mr. Bernard Osei-Kwabena, Executive Director of Marketing and Business Operations of GhanaCare, Ltd.

For more information about GhanaCare, Ltd call, toll free 1-888-505-6566 or in Toronto region 416-412-0407. Address requests for free brochure and application to: GhanaCare, Ltd. P.O. Box 20298, Shaker Heights, Ohio 44120