By Love Wilhelmina Abanonave
The Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has said the “no bed syndrome” in hospitals has not been forgotten, outlining a multi-pronged approach to address the situation.
Speaking during the Government Accountability Series, he said the use of information technology (IT) to monitor bed availability and the creation of a dedicated monitoring centre at Ridge Hospital are underway.
He explained that government is currently undertaking a manual count of beds across health facilities and has begun barcoding hospital beds as part of a broader IT-based tracking system.
“We are going to use IT to monitor the beds. What we are doing at the moment is counting the beds and barcoding them,” the Minister said.
As part of the intervention, a central monitoring unit is being established at Ridge Hospital to oversee bed management.
“We are creating a centre at Ridge Hospital. That is where we are setting up the centre. So that is one aspect,” he added.
Mr Akandoh also disclosed plans to seek legislative backing to strengthen emergency health response.
“We are going to go to Parliament for legislation on emergency issues,” he said, without specifying details of the proposed law.
He further outlined measures including increasing bed capacity in existing health facilities and constructing a new facility dedicated to emergency services.
“We are looking at adding more beds to the already existing health facilities. We are also looking at establishing a dedicated facility for emergency services, which will be located around the Burma Camp area,” he explained.
Mr Akandoh said further action would be taken after the submission of an ongoing report on the issue.
“There is a lot we are doing. When the report comes, it will include recommendations, and we will implement them fully,” he said.
The “no bed syndrome” refers to recurring incidents where patients, including emergency cases, are turned away from hospitals due to the unavailability of beds. The issue has raised public concern and prompted calls for reforms in patient admission and emergency care coordination.
The Ministry’s interventions, including the IT monitoring system and the planned emergency facility near Burma Camp, form part of efforts to improve access and efficiency in emergency healthcare delivery.
