{"id":96668,"date":"2026-06-22T17:34:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/health-minister-samateh-calls-free-healthcare-unsustainable"},"modified":"2026-06-22T18:23:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T18:23:36","slug":"health-minister-samateh-calls-free-healthcare-unsustainable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/health-minister-samateh-calls-free-healthcare-unsustainable","title":{"rendered":"Health Minister Samateh Calls Free Healthcare Unsustainable"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Health Minister Ahmadou Samateh has said that providing free healthcare services is not sustainable for The Gambia, citing the country\u2019s status as a developing nation with limited financial resources.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Speaking on Saturday during the Mansa Kunda Ministerial Town Hall, Samateh defended the government\u2019s recent adjustments to healthcare service fees, emphasizing that the charges remain heavily subsidized and represent only a fraction of the actual cost of medical care.<\/p>\n<p>He urged Gambians to consider the true cost of healthcare services, including medical procedures and operations, in order to appreciate the extent of government support.\u201cI will encourage you to look at the cost of services, the cost of an operation. Believe me when you do the calculations, you will know that the government is doing quite a lot,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>The minister also addressed persistent shortages in the health sector, attributing them largely to The Gambia\u2019s reliance on imported medical supplies. He noted that the country produces virtually none of the medicines and medical consumables used in health facilities, including basic drugs such as paracetamol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do not manufacture these medical items. The only area where we have made significant progress is oxygen production. The government and its partners should be commended for that achievement because before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was not a single oxygen plant in the country\u2019s health sector,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>According to Samateh, The Gambia now has six containerized oxygen plants operating across the country, marking a major improvement in the health system\u2019s capacity.<\/p>\n<p>He highlighted the installation of a full containerized oxygen plant in Bansang, in the Central River Region, as evidence of the sector\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is how far we have come,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Health Minister Ahmadou Samateh has said that providing free healthcare services is not sustainable for The Gambia, citing the country\u2019s status as a developing nation with limited financial resources. Speaking on Saturday during the Mansa Kunda Ministerial Town Hall, Samateh defended the government\u2019s recent adjustments to healthcare service fees, emphasizing that the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":96667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-96668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Health Minister Samateh Calls Free Healthcare Unsustainable - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Health Minister Ahmadou Samateh has said that providing free healthcare services is not sustainable for The Gambia, c ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/health-minister-samateh-calls-free-healthcare-unsustainable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Health Minister Samateh Calls Free Healthcare Unsustainable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Health Minister Ahmadou Samateh has said that providing free healthcare services is not sustainable for The Gambia, c ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/health-minister-samateh-calls-free-healthcare-unsustainable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-22T17:34:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-22T18:23:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/06\/sm_1782139967.89876.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/health-minister-samateh-calls-free-healthcare-unsustainable#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/health-minister-samateh-calls-free-healthcare-unsustainable\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Health Minister Samateh Calls Free Healthcare Unsustainable\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-22T17:34:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-22T18:23:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/health-minister-samateh-calls-free-healthcare-unsustainable\"},\"wordCount\":304,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/health-minister-samateh-calls-free-healthcare-unsustainable#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/06\/sm_1782139967.89876.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/health-minister-samateh-calls-free-healthcare-unsustainable#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/health-minister-samateh-calls-free-healthcare-unsustainable\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/health-minister-samateh-calls-free-healthcare-unsustainable\",\"name\":\"Health Minister Samateh Calls Free Healthcare Unsustainable - 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