Health experts have raised concerns about the state of Ghana’s healthcare system, warning that systemic inefficiencies, poor infrastructure, and policy mismanagement are threatening lives daily.
Speaking at the Achimota Speaks forum on the theme “Healthcare or Deathcare”, the health experts called for urgent and strategic reforms to rescue the sector.
The Achimota Speaks platform serves as a convening space for thought leaders to discuss pressing national issues and propose practical solutions for social and policy transformation.
Neurosurgeon, Dr. Teddy Totimeh, painted a sobering picture of Ghana’s health infrastructure, stating that the system is “barely functional” in providing life-saving care, especially for emergency cases like strokes and road traffic accidents.
“Ghana has one of the highest road traffic accident mortalities in the world. We are losing young, economically active people every day because our systems for managing trauma and strokes are underdeveloped.
Even when supplies exist, survival chances are almost zero in some hospitals due to a lack of equipment and expertise,” he said.
He revealed that in Ghana, most strokes are hemorrhagic — requiring intensive surgical and critical care — yet the country has an insufficient number of neurosurgeons, intensive care units, and diagnostic facilities.
“Some hospitals still struggle to access a single functional CT scan. We have not expanded our intensive care units in decades,” he lamented.
He also expressed concern about the exodus of skilled health professionals, noting that “many of the doctors trained in Ghana leave for better working conditions abroad,” leaving behind an overstretched system.
He emphasised the need to “build a stronger ecosystem that supports specialised care and rewards expertise.”
Turning her attention to the financial and policy side of healthcare, former NHIA boss, Dr Lydia Dsane-Selby, echoed similar frustrations and highlighted political interference and poor prioritisation as major barriers to healthcare progress.
“Our biggest problem is not always money — it’s our priorities. We have sacrificed good policies on the altar of political expediency. Funds meant for health insurance and essential services are often diverted or cut down, leaving hospitals underfunded and citizens underserved,” she stated.
She cited examples of misallocated resources, saying that too often, healthcare budgets are used for visible projects like “shiny new buildings with nothing inside” instead of investing in essential equipment, personnel, and maintenance.
Dr. Dsane-Selby also urged policymakers to focus on efficiency within the health services, warning that the public sector’s limited productivity is costing the country dearly.
“Doctors are working, but inefficiencies in the system mean patients are not getting the care they deserve. We must fix that gap,” she said.
Addressing changing health trends, she noted that Ghana has made progress in combating infectious diseases like malaria but is now facing a rise in non-communicable diseases such as stroke, hypertension, and diabetes.
These conditions, she said, require long-term management, collaboration between health professionals, and patient responsibility.
“We need a new kind of partnership — between the health system and the citizens — where people take prevention seriously and the system provides consistent, quality care,” she added.
Both speakers agreed that Ghana’s healthcare challenges extend beyond medical issues into systemic and structural weaknesses — including poor data systems, lack of inter-hospital coordination, and limited investment in research and specialised training.
Dr. Totimeh urged the public and government alike to “rethink healthcare as a national investment, not a cost.”
He added, “Without healthcare, there can be no productive economy. We cannot continue to lose our best and brightest — both patients and professionals — to preventable causes.”
Adding to the conversation, CEO of Chiron Health Consult, William Delali Ofori, described Ghana’s health infrastructure planning as “misguided and wasteful.”
He condemned the government’s Agenda 111 project, which aimed to build 111 hospitals nationwide, as “a travesty of justice.”
“It was wrong-headed to attempt building 111 hospitals across the country without first fixing the fundamentals,” he said.
“In a country where most hospitals lack basic equipment and critical personnel, what sense does it make to build new structures when existing ones cannot function effectively?”
He cited alarming statistics, noting that less than 4% of Ghanaian women have ever had a cervical cancer screening, and that the country still has fewer than five paediatric neurologists.
William Ofori underscored that “the real problem is not the number of buildings, but the failure of the system to deliver quality care.”
He urged policymakers to focus on system efficiency, human resources, and emergency response infrastructure, rather than politically motivated construction projects.
