Emergency Medicine Residents at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital have dismissed claims by hospital management that downplayed the state of emergency care, insisting that recent footage showing patients being treated on the floor reflects the true conditions at the facility.
The hospital’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Yakubu Seidu Adam, had previously described the viral video as unrepresentative of the emergency wards, despite ongoing concerns over the “no-bed syndrome.”
In a press statement released on March 23, the residents maintained that the footage circulating publicly is authentic.
“The video footage is authentic. When the surge in patients exhausted all available beds, chairs were provided. When those chairs were also exhausted, patients had no option but to receive care on the floor,” the statement said.
They criticised attempts to dismiss the video as fabricated or misleading, describing such claims as “factually inaccurate and an affront to both patients and staff.”
The residents also rejected the notion that simply adding more beds would resolve the crisis, stressing that the problem goes beyond the availability of beds.
They noted that without functional oxygen points, airway equipment, monitoring tools, adequate space, and sufficient medical staff, patient care would not improve.
According to them, introducing additional beds without addressing these underlying challenges could worsen congestion in an already overwhelmed emergency unit.
The group further argued that the situation at KBTH reflects broader systemic weaknesses in Ghana’s healthcare system rather than an isolated issue.
“This crisis is a symptom of a fractured national emergency response system,” they said, citing dysfunctional referral pathways, poor pre-hospital coordination, and the absence of a national bed-tracking system.
They explained that patients are often referred to tertiary hospitals like KBTH because lower-level facilities lack the capacity to treat them, with many arriving in critical condition without proper stabilisation.
“We do not call for more beds in hallways. We call for a strengthened national healthcare grid,” the statement added.
The residents urged hospital management and the Ministry of Health to move beyond public relations responses and implement comprehensive reforms to address the crisis.
“The evidence is real. The crisis is real. And the response must be equally real,” they concluded.
Their statement adds to growing concerns over pressure on emergency healthcare services in Ghana, with increasing calls for structural reforms to improve patient care and strengthen the overall health system.
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