President John Mahama has announced plans to expand Accident and Emergency departments at four major hospitals as part of measures to address persistent bed shortages in the country’s emergency healthcare system.
The expansion, expected to begin in 2027, will cover Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Tamale Teaching Hospital and the 37 Military Hospital.
Addressing the 68th Annual General Conference of the Ghana Medical Association, President Mahama said the government is working towards increasing emergency bed capacity to at least 10 per cent of each facility’s functional bed capacity.
Citing Korle Bu Teaching Hospital as an example, President Mahama said the facility currently has 1,500 functional beds but only 65 beds in its Accident and Emergency Department.
He explained that achieving the proposed target would require increasing the department’s emergency bed capacity to at least 150.
“At Korle Bu, for example, achieving this target would mean more than doubling the current emergency bed capacity from 65 to at least 150 beds,” he said.
The President emphasised that the expansion would also involve providing the necessary medical personnel, equipment and supplies to ensure the additional beds can be put to effective use.
“The expansion will be matched with the necessary staff, equipment, oxygen and essential supplies to make the additional capacity fully operational,” he stated.
In a related intervention, President Mahama announced plans to pilot an Integrated Bed Management and Referral Coordination System (IBMRC) through the Ministry of Health.
The digital platform will connect Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Tamale Teaching Hospital, Greater Accra Regional Hospital at Ridge, 37 Military Hospital, the University of Ghana Medical Centre and the National Ambulance Service.
It is designed to provide hospitals and ambulance teams with information on available beds and clinical capacity at participating facilities, enabling them to identify suitable hospitals for patients requiring emergency care and coordinate their transfer.
President Mahama noted, however, that the effectiveness of the system would depend on hospitals providing accurate information about their actual capacity to receive patients.
He further announced that the Ghana Armed Forces Critical Care and Emergency Hospital was being opened to the public to provide additional capacity for managing emergency cases.
The facility is expected to begin receiving patients immediately, with the President stressing that stronger collaboration between military and civilian health institutions would help maximise the use of available healthcare resources.
Addressing the persistent problem of patients being turned away from hospitals because of bed shortages, President Mahama insisted that health facilities must assess patients arriving in critical condition, regardless of their available bed capacity.
“When a patient arrives in critical condition, we cannot simply say, ‘No bed, no bed, go somewhere else.’ At the very least, the patient must be assessed,” he said.
He explained that where a hospital cannot provide the required definitive treatment, medical personnel must first stabilise the patient within their capacity before arranging a safe transfer to another facility.
The President also stressed that families must receive clear information and guidance throughout the referral process, adding that they should not be left to navigate the healthcare system independently when seeking emergency treatment for their relatives.
