In 2018, the phrase “No-Bed Syndrome” entered Ghana’s national conversation after a 70-year-old man died following failed attempts to secure hospital admission.
Eight years later, the issue has resurfaced – this time after a 29-year-old engineer was allegedly denied emergency care by three major hospitals in Accra before his death.
Twenty-nine-year-old Charles Amissah, an engineer with Promasidor Ghana Limited, was involved in a hit-and-run accident at the Nkrumah Circle Overpass while returning home to Adenta on Friday night.
Emergency Medical Technicians from the National Ambulance Service responded within minutes. They stabilised him at the scene, controlled the bleeding, administered oxygen, and continuously monitored his vital signs.
But from approximately 10:40 p.m. until shortly before 1:00 a.m., the ambulance crew reportedly struggled to secure admission for him.
The crew first drove to the Police Hospital, then to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital — commonly known as Ridge — and later to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. According to reports, all three facilities declined admission, citing a lack of available beds.
Despite negotiations — including offers to manage him on the ambulance trolley — no emergency care was reportedly administered inside any of the facilities.
After nearly three hours of transfers and discussions, Charles Amissah went into cardiac arrest inside the ambulance.
Resuscitation efforts proved unsuccessful.
He was later pronounced dead — a tragedy that once again exposes deep cracks within Ghana’s health system.
According to the World Health Organization, countries require approximately five hospital beds per 1,000 people. Ghana currently has about 0.9 beds per 1,000 people.
Ridge Hospital, which was upgraded in 2017 from a 200-bed to a 420-bed capacity, continues to face bed shortages.
This latest incident has reignited concerns about Ghana’s persistent bed capacity deficit, emergency response protocols, and the slow adoption of technological systems that could allow real-time monitoring of hospital space availability.
