Vulnerable to get free medical care

Vulnerable groups in rural Ghana are to get free medical care now that the Ministry of Health has allocated 10 million cedis (US $ 2.2 million) to the effort, the Ghana News Agency reported on Thursday. The amount, which constitutes 3 percent of the budget for the health sector, will cover the needs of senior citizens, infants, pregnant women, and people whom the Department of Social Welfare has classified as rural paupers. The ministry's plans were outlined in a report on Ghana's achievements in implementing the goals of the 1995 World Social Summit held in Copenhagen. The report notes that since the introduction of a "cash and carry" health delivery system in Ghana, 69 percent of the sick, mostly rural dwellers, have been unable to pay for medical services.