The Emergency Medicine Residents at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) have said the ‘No-bed syndrome’ crisis in Ghana’s healthcare delivery is real.
According to the Emergency Medicine Residents at the Korle Bu, the evidence is real. The crisis is real, and the response must be equally real.
In a press statement issued on March 23, the residents disclosed that the viral video of patients being treated on the floor is a National Crisis, not a Korle Bu problem.
According to the Emergency Medicine Residents, the videos showing patients being treated on the floor are authentic, not AI-generated.
In the Emergency Medicine Residents’ press statement issued on March 23, it reads, “We, the Emergency Medicine Residents of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), respond to management’s News Release of March 21, 2026. We write to ensure the public record accurately reflects the conditions under which care is being delivered and the systemic failures that made them inevitable
The Floor Incident: Setting the Record Straight
The video footage is authentic. When the surge in patients exhausted all available beds, chairs were provided. When those chairs were also exhausted, patients had no option but to receive care on the floor. This sequence was witnessed by every member of our clinical team. Characterising this documentation as ‘AI-generated or ‘media slander’ is factually inaccurate and an affront to both patients and staff.
200 Beds Are Not Enough
The procurement of 200 beds, while noted, does not address the crisis. Beds without functional oxygen points, airway equipment, monitoring tools, adequate floor space, and sufficient nursing and physician staffing ratios do not improve care. They congest an already overwhelmed space. A comprehensive, resourced solution is required, not headline figures.
A National Crisis, Not a KBTH Problem
This crisis is a symptom of a fractured national emergency response system driven by:
1. Dysfunctional referral pathways: Patients are dumped at tertiary centres because primary and secondary facilities cannot hold them.
2. Absent pre-hospital coordination: Patients arrive critically ill with no advance notice and no basic interventions initiated
3. No national bed-tracking system makes real-time patient redistribution impossible.
We do not call for more beds in hallways. We call for a strengthened national healthcare grid.
We urge management and the Ministry of Health to move past PR-focused responses and commit to a transparent and systemic reform. The evidence is real. The crisis is real. And the response must be equally real”.
The Emergency Medicine Residents at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) statement follows Dr Yakubu Seidu Adam, who had earlier claimed that the viral video of patients on the floor might be AI-generated.
The Korle Bu CEO claimed that the viral video of patients lying on the floor does not reflect the reality of the hospital’s emergency wards amid ongoing concerns over the “no-bed syndrome.”
He made this clarification during a working visit by the Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, on Saturday, March 21.
According to the Korle Bu CEO, an increase in patient numbers, but clarified that while some patients may be seated on chairs due to high demand, patients have not slept on the floor.
“We are still reviewing the images to ascertain whether it is AI-generated,” he added.
The Emergency Medicine Residents’ statement follows an alarming viral footage that has surfaced on social media of some patients at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) seen lying on the bare floors of Ghana’s biggest hospital.
In the viral footage, several patients, visibly frail and in need of urgent care, were captured sleeping on the hard hospital floors.
The alarming video exposed the extent of the lack of beds at wards at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital as the ongoing “no bed syndrome” crisis worsens.
The development follows President John Mahama, who, at the State of the Nation Address on February 27, 2026, warned all health facilities against turning away patients who report to their facility for emergency treatment.
According to John Mahama, every Ghanaian who seeks medical attention must be attended to.
He explained that health workers do not need to have a comfortable bed to save a patient.
Addressing the nation on Friday, February 27, President Mahama stated, “This year, the government will fully roll out a free primary healthcare programme, removing all cost barriers at the primary level where it is mostly needed, while strengthening prevention, screening, and health promotion, especially for non-communicable diseases”.
“Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Health is expected to issue guidelines to eliminate the unacceptable no-bed syndrome. Patients facing medical emergencies must be received and given help, even under makeshift conditions. You don’t need to have a comfortable bed to save a patient”.
Mahama boldly warned, “No patient must be turned away from any health facility they report to”.
See the post below:
Videos of patients treated on the floor are authentic. Claims that they are AI-generated are inaccurate — Korle Bu Emergency Residents#UTVGhana pic.twitter.com/89ED0kFrTO
— UTV Ghana (@utvghana) March 23, 2026