Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee, Dr Mark Kurt Nawaane, is urging families who lose relatives due to the country’s persistent “no bed syndrome” to seek legal redress against health facilities that deny emergency care.
His call follows reports that a victim of a hit-and-run accident was allegedly turned away by three major hospitals because there was no available bed space, a development that has reignited public outrage over emergency response failures in the health system.
Speaking to journalists, Dr Nawaane strongly condemned the situation, describing the refusal to admit emergency patients as unacceptable.
“You carry your relative to the place, and if you’re not satisfied with anything, I think you should be able to pursue it,” he said.
“The Medical and Dental Council are there to ensure that we provide quality health services. We have got HeFRA (Health Facilities Regulatory Authority). We’ve got even the NHIA, they are interested in this matter. So, all these bodies are there to ensure that you can make a formal complaint to them, and I believe that they will be able to do so.”
Dr Nawaane said he struggles to understand why emergency cases are turned away without stabilisation, noting that standard medical practice requires facilities to first stabilise a patient before referring them elsewhere.
“When it is an emergency, we expect that you stabilise the person first. Even if you need to refer, you do so after stabilisation,” he said.
He believes part of the problem lies in poor coordination and communication among health facilities, particularly in urban centres where several major hospitals operate within close proximity.
“There are so many hospitals in the country. Even the specialist hospitals in Accra are not that small,” he noted.
“What I am thinking is that there is a lack of communication between hospitals.”
According to him, if one facility has no bed space, it should be able to immediately direct families to another hospital with available capacity.
“If you go to the first hospital and there is no bed, they should be able to inform you that there is a bed in another hospital. But it appears every hospital is operating like an island,” he said.
He stressed the need for a networked system that allows facilities to share real-time information on bed availability, so patients are not left moving from one hospital to another in critical condition.
Meanwhile, Dr Nawaane disclosed that part of the GH¢2.9 billion approved for the Ghana Medical Trust Fund will go toward upgrading regional health facilities to improve service delivery and reduce pressure on major referral hospitals.
He said the fund will prioritise three key areas, including the payment of outstanding claims, infrastructure and equipment upgrades, and specialist medical training.
Out of the total allocation, GH¢1.6 billion is earmarked for claims payment, GH¢975 million for infrastructure and equipment, and GH¢44.2 million for specialist training.
“You realise that if you have a hospital and you don’t have the specialist, it is always difficult for them to carry out their mandate,” he said.
“So I’m not surprised that part of this fund is going to be used to train medical specialists.”
He noted that many accredited regional hospitals lack essential diagnostic equipment such as MRI and CT scan machines, limiting their ability to manage complex cases.
“We expect that part of this fund, as part of the retooling process, should be used to equip them so they can carry out their mandate,” he added.
Dr Nawaane assured that Parliament’s Health Committee will ensure the funds are utilised fairly and in line with national priorities, with strict oversight over payments, infrastructure development and specialist training.
About the Author
