Doctors at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital say the persistent overcrowding at the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Centre is not simply a matter of limited beds but rather a sign of deeper structural problems within Ghana’s healthcare system, particularly a weak national referral network.
In a statement issued on March 23, the Korle-Bu Doctors’ Association (KODA) explained that many lower-level hospitals across the country are unable to effectively manage certain medical cases and therefore routinely refer patients to Korle-Bu, which serves as the main tertiary referral facility in southern Ghana. According to the doctors, this pattern overwhelms the emergency unit and leads to chronic congestion.
KODA stressed that simply increasing the number of beds would not resolve the crisis. The association noted that even if additional beds were provided, there would still be insufficient healthcare personnel and resources to manage the rising patient numbers, meaning the facility would remain under pressure.
The doctors argued that the situation highlights long-standing weaknesses in how patients are moved through the healthcare system. Ideally, cases should be handled at appropriate levels of care, with district and regional hospitals managing many conditions before referring only the most complex cases to tertiary centres like Korle-Bu. However, they say the system has not functioned effectively as a coordinated network, resulting in a constant influx of referrals to the hospital.
Their concerns come amid renewed public scrutiny of conditions at the hospital’s emergency centre, where reports and footage have shown patients being treated in crowded and sometimes non-ideal spaces due to the high number of admissions.
Beyond the operational challenges, KODA also raised concerns about the legal and professional risks facing doctors working under such conditions. The association has advised its members to carefully document the clinical environment when providing treatment, especially when patients must be attended to in suboptimal circumstances because of overcrowding. Doctors have also been encouraged to report shortages of space and resources to their superiors, including heads of units and hospital management.
The association is calling on hospital management to engage the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service to strengthen the national referral system and improve capacity at lower-level facilities. According to KODA, resolving the crisis will require a system-wide approach that addresses staffing, equipment, and infrastructure across all levels of care rather than focusing only on expanding facilities at Korle-Bu.
Healthcare experts have long warned that Ghana’s so-called “no-bed syndrome” is often a symptom of broader systemic issues in emergency healthcare delivery, including referral inefficiencies and resource constraints, rather than just the physical absence of hospital beds.
Doctors say meaningful reforms and strong policy action will be necessary to reduce overcrowding, protect patients, and improve working conditions for frontline medical staff at the country’s premier teaching hospital.
