Member of Parliament for Effiduase-Asokore, Dr Nana Ayew Afriye, has disclosed that Zipline, the drone-delivery service responsible for transporting blood, vaccines and emergency medicines to remote communities has begun decommissioning some of its centres.

According to the MP, Zipline is closing three of its operations out of six centres due to lack of government engagement and unpaid arrears.

Contributing to the 2026 Budget debate on Tuesday, Dr Ayew Afriye disclosed that the centres include Anum (Volta/Eastern/Afram Plains); Sefwi Wiawso (Western North/Central/Western corridor; and Kete-Krachi (Oti/Afram Plains).

“People will die needlessly from lack of blood, medications and essential supplies. This shutdown begins today. This is terrifying for ordinary Ghanaians in remote areas,” he warned.

The MP disclosed that Zipline is currently owed over GH₵175 million, far exceeding the GH₵20 million provisioned in the budget for operations.

The MP slammed the government’s 2026 budget, accusing the Ministry of Health of presenting inconsistent figures, misrepresenting National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) allocations, and covering up dire challenges in Ghana’s health delivery system.

According to him, the government’s claim of uncapping NHIA funds and ensuring stable financing for vaccines and primary healthcare under the MahamaCare initiative is inaccurate and misleading.

“There is a high level of inconsistency as far as this budget is concerned. You cannot write in this statement that the NHIF was uncapped when you know very well that the available funds are far less than what you claim,” he stated.

Dr Afriye referenced paragraph 590 of the budget, which states that the NHIA enjoys full access to its funds due to the removal of the fiscal cap. He argued, however, that after deductions for the MahamaCare Trust Fund, the actual allocation available to the NHIA reduces significantly.

He stressed that the original envelope of GH₵10 billion has been revised to GH₵8 billion, with a 20% (GH₵1.6 billion) deduction to the MahamaCare Trust.

“What remains for the NHIA is GH₵6.4 billion, less than the GH₵6.8 billion released the previous year. “We cannot sit here and pretend the NHIA has more money when in reality they have less to work with,” he added.

Dr Afriye also accused the Ministry of Health of misleading the public about the number of nurses recruited in 2025. While the government claims 13,500 nurses have been placed on the payroll this year, Dr Afriyie says these numbers include backlogs from the 2020 clearance, not newly-recruited 2021 or 2022 nursing graduates.

“You are enjoying clearance from last year but claiming it as your achievement this year. The 2021 batch of nurses and midwives have not been placed on payroll. They are listening to me. None of them has been engaged,” he argued.

He warned that failure to recruit both 2021 and 2022 nurses would push the health sector into a deeper crisis.

Dr Afriye maintained that the government must urgently address outstanding recruitments, restore Zipline operations, and realign NHIA financing if its national reset agenda is to be taken seriously