The Ghana Health Service (GHS) is implementing an integrated bed management and referral coordination system to provide ambulance crews with real-time information on available beds and the capacity of health facilities to provide the required care, the Director-General of the service, Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, has said.
He said although Ghana had about one hospital bed per 1,000 people, compared with the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation of five beds per 1,000 people, simply increasing the number of beds would not resolve the problem of ‘no-bed’ syndrome.
In a speech read on his behalf at the Medical Innovation Expo 2026 organised by Academic City University through its BioInnovation Centre, Dr Akoriyea said the necessary intervention was a coordinated system that enabled patients to reach the right facility, with the appropriate equipment and skilled health professionals, at the right time.
He cited the case of a 29-year-old engineer who was knocked down at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra on September 5 last year, saying although an ambulance reached him within minutes, he was taken from one hospital to another and died without being admitted.
The expo, which brought together policymakers, health professionals, researchers, engineers and innovators, is on the theme: “Beyond the No-Bed Syndrome.”
System gaps
Dr Akoriyea said the committee set up to investigate the death found a “chain of delays”, including inadequate stabilisation and poor coordination among health facilities.
He recalled that in 2018, when he was then acting Director of the Greater Accra Region, a 70-year-old man was rejected by seven hospitals, which brought the “no-bed syndrome” to the fore as a major health concern.
“Eight years down the line, the same gaps still stare us in the face,” he said.
Dr Akoriyea added that bed tracking software had also been piloted at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Greater Accra Regional Hospital and Tema General Hospital, while bed management bureaus had been established across 10 regions to track bed use and availability.
The Director-General of GHS said the initiatives were being integrated into a system that would give ambulance crews a dispatch console, referral coordination and a live view of available beds across the country.
Local solutions
The GHS’ Deputy Director of the Clinical Services Development and Institutional Care Division, Dr Ebenezer Oduro-Mensah, said the Bed Management Bureau would provide real-time information on bed availability, particularly at regional and teaching hospitals.
“It’s not just a matter of beds; when patients need care, it’s not about the physical bed, but about the skill and then the equipment to manage that patient,” he said.
Dr Oduro-Mensah said the GHS was also working towards establishing a National Teleconsultation Centre to provide expert advice to lower-level facilities and reduce unnecessary referrals to major hospitals.
He said some imported medical equipment was difficult to maintain because the technology was beyond the capabilities of local clinical engineers.
He, therefore, urged innovators to develop low-cost equipment with health workers from the design stage to ensure that the devices addressed local needs and could be maintained locally.
Innovation
The Senior Research and Development Director of External Innovation at Johnson & Johnson, Dr Ibrahim Badejo, said innovation should focus on solving real healthcare problems rather than simply developing sophisticated technologies.
He said the measure of innovation should be its impact on patients and communities, adding that Ghana had the potential to become an innovation hub if it developed solutions to local healthcare challenges and scaled them globally.
Dr Badejo said healthcare innovations should improve clinical outcomes, affordability and access, noting that solutions that patients could not afford or access would have limited impact.
Expo history
The Vice-President of Academic City University in charge of Academic Affairs, Dr Sena Agbodjah, said the BioInnovation Centre was established about four years ago through a partnership involving Academic City, Northeastern University and Ghana BioInnovation, to develop medical innovations to improve healthcare delivery.
She said the annual expo was created to bring together academic institutions, industry, regulators and innovators to share their work, learn from one another and identify gaps that could guide future innovation.
