Dr Kwame Asiedu Sarpong, a Democracy and Development Fellow in Health at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), has said Ghana’s Health crisis is a systems and people’s problem, not a bed problem.
He argued that Ghana’s Health crisis goes beyond ‘no-bed syndrome adding that the system is fundamentally broken.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on 24 February 2026, Dr Sarpong explained, “The problem is not a bed problem. It’s a systems and people’s problem. We’ve diagnosed the issues, but we’ve refused to intervene.
“The Health Harmonisation Assessment Report was a diagnosis of the health of our health system. When the diagnosis told us our health system was very, very sick, we did nothing about it,” he said.
Dr Sarpong added, “We needed retooling of our health system since 2014, but we haven’t done it. That’s a fact of our health system, and it’s why we’re still in crisis today”.
“It’s not just about where the beds are. It’s about the resources and the right medical expertise at each facility. If a hospital has a bed but lacks the proper expertise or equipment, sending a patient there is as dangerous as not having a bed at all,” he explained.
“For me, this needs to be investigated thoroughly again. And this time, the findings do not need to be shelved. We can’t keep sweeping these problems under the rug. If we don’t address the root causes, the cycle will repeat itself,” he cautioned.
He further added, “It shouldn’t be the responsibility of patients or their families to track bed availability. This should be accessible to health managers and emergency services to ensure patients are sent to the right facilities. We’ve talked about this for years — why is it still not in place?”
“We have known what’s wrong with the system for years. Yet every time a tragedy happens, we react as if this is the first time we’re hearing about it. This must change. Until we address the root causes, more people will die unnecessarily. We must act now — before it’s too late,” he warned.
He further added, “I hear the noises being made by the Ministry of Health and the Minister, and they are good noises. But at this point, these things have to happen quickly. No more delays. We can’t afford to wait any longer. These are not just policy recommendations; they are urgent needs”.
“We have mutual negligence at all levels — politicians, health managers and even the citizens. Everyone is turning a blind eye, and people are dying as a result. We need to stop looking for someone to blame and start fixing the system,” he stated.
Meanwhile, a Cardiac Anesthesiologist, Nana Dadzie Ghansah, has said the 29-year-old Charles Amissah, who was a hit-and-run victim and was turned away by three hospitals in Accra, could have been saved.
According to the Cardiac Anesthesiologist, the refusal of the three hospitals to admit the late Charles Amissah is indefensible.
He detailed that Charles Amissah’s injury could have been something as simple as a tension pneumothorax, which might have just needed a needle into his chest to release the air.
Speaking in an interview on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Monday, February 23, 2026, stated, “To be honest, it’s indefensible. It is really indefensible. You can make as many excuses as you want about lack of beds, lack of equipment, lack of morale, apathy, but that’s a human life. A 29-year-old, and what, an hour and a half? That guy could have been saved”.
“It could have been something as simple as a tension pneumothorax that killed him, and all he needed, maybe, was a needle into his chest to release the air. It was salvageable. One and a half hours, something could have been done for him, and even if something was done and he didn’t make it, you can argue that they tried, but it’s really indefensible,” he added.
Nana Dadzie Ghansah further expressed his shock at the timely intervention of the ambulance team and commended them for their rapid response and professionalism.
He added, “I was shocked when I read that there was an ambulance close to the Circle and they responded in time. I was blown away, and they acquitted themselves really well, and the guy had polytrauma. There was very little they could have done for him”.
“He could have died from several things: a bleed in his head, torn vessels in his chest, or a hole in his lung that causes what we call a tension in the thorax. He could have ruptured his spleen,” he said.