Emergency care in Ghana: Strong policies, weak practice
Ghana’s emergency health system is facing a crisis of implementation, according to Dr Richard Selormey, General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA). Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on February 24, 2026, Dr Selormey warned that while the country boasts well‑crafted health policies, the reality on the ground exposes dangerous gaps that cost lives.
Dr Selormey acknowledged that Ghana’s policy documents look impressive on paper, but stressed that the real challenge lies in execution. “It is good that you are referencing the policy in the guidelines document. But there is always a translation from policy into reality,” he said.
He lamented that despite the abundance of frameworks, many collapse at the implementation stage, leaving emergency care systems under‑resourced and citizens vulnerable. “Ghana has many beautiful policies and guidelines. But what happens on the ground is totally different from what exists on paper,” he added.
The GMA leader described the situation as deeply troubling, particularly in cases where preventable deaths occur due to poor emergency response. “We are discussing emergency care lapses and losing productive lives unwarrantedly. There is a real problem,” he noted.
He challenged authorities to conduct simple surveys of health facilities, which would reveal glaring deficiencies. “You can go to the facilities yourself and find out how many even have standby oxygen in place, how many have the necessary professionals to operate equipment, and how many emergency physicians we actually have,” he said.
Beyond facility preparedness, Dr Selormey highlighted inefficiencies in Ghana’s ambulance and referral systems. He revealed that patients are sometimes delayed for hours because ambulance services struggle to raise funds before transfers can occur. “You have national ambulances on the floor, arguing for hours, trying to raise funds to pay bills before patients can even be transferred from one facility to another,” he explained.
He described the referral structure as disjointed, with no centralised system to track bed availability across hospitals. “There is no localised point where we can know how many beds are available and where the temporary bed is,” he said.
This lack of coordination, he warned, worsens outcomes when patients are moved between facilities. “In a proper referral system, when a patient moves from point A, the next hospital should know they are coming and prepare for them. But that full‑cycle referral system has big challenges,” he added.
Dr Selormey cautioned that the continuous transfer of patients from peripheral facilities to major teaching hospitals is overwhelming the system. He cited Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge), and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital as examples of institutions perpetually short of beds. “If all the peripheries are dumping into Korle Bu and others are not resourced, Korle Bu will always have no beds. Ridge will always have no beds. Komfo Anokye will always have no beds,” he warned.
To ease the burden, Dr Selormey urged investment in district and peripheral facilities, equipping them with the human resources and logistics needed to handle emergencies locally. He stressed that road traffic accidents and other critical cases should be managed within communities rather than funneled into already overstretched teaching hospitals.
The GMA General Secretary also pointed to systemic issues beyond logistics. He cited understaffing, demotivated personnel, and lapses in professionalism as contributing factors. In addition, he criticised poor health‑seeking behaviour among sections of the public. “We have a population that often waits until the last minute and reports to hospitals only in emergencies instead of seeking early care,” he observed.
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