Health experts have issued strong warnings about the state of Ghana’s healthcare system, cautioning that years of poor prioritisation, weak institutional discipline, political interference, and chronic underinvestment are pushing the country closer to what they described as “death care” rather than real healthcare.
The concerns were raised at the Achimota Speaks event, where panelists discussed the topic: “Healthcare or Death Care.”
Former NHIA CEO Dr. Lydia Dsane-Selby highlighted systemic weaknesses, noting that despite progress in reducing infectious diseases, Ghana is struggling to manage the rising burden of non-communicable diseases due to inefficiencies and longstanding neglect.
She explained that although Ghana has eliminated diseases like measles for many years, structural gaps remain. “Ghana…I think, hasn’t had a measles case for a very long time, and when one turned up in Tamale, they had to bus in student nurses and medical doctors to see the child because we haven’t seen it for so long,” she said.
Dr. Dsane-Selby also expressed concern about inequities within healthcare delivery, stressing that even with available expertise, the underlying systems remain broken. She recalled her shock at a programme promoting pediatric stents costing $20,000 each while rural communities lack basic healthcare services.
“We cannot have policies that are only for the elite. We have to think about the rural areas and fair practice,” she said. She added that copying foreign systems without context is misguided: “There are counties in the US with all their spending, whose maternal mortality rates are worse than Chorkor. So sometimes following America is not always the way to go.”
While stressing the importance of funding, she said money alone cannot fix a dysfunctional system. “All in all, money is important. But America has shown us that money isn’t everything. The elite get taken care of. Those at the bottom are suffering. They are as bad as we are in Ghana. So there has to be a balance.”
According to her, political interference, failure to implement policies, and collapsing institutions continue to weaken the sector.
The CEO of Chiron Health Consult, William Delali Ofori, agreed that Ghana does not lack policies but rather the commitment to execute them. He argued that health facilities across the country rise or fall depending on individual effort rather than strong systems.
“We don’t know how to execute. Our facilities are poorly maintained, poorly resourced, with almost no standard operating procedures. It’s the same story from CHPS compounds to tertiary hospitals,” he said. He added that the system often resembles “death care” due to broken processes, a weak emergency response structure, and the absence of communication between ambulances and hospitals.
“When you hear an ambulance siren, it doesn’t mean the person has been rescued,” he stressed.
Consultant neurosurgeon at the Accra Medical Center, Dr. Teddy Totimeh, said Ghana must confront the reality that improving healthcare requires sustained investment, strong advocacy, and innovative domestic revenue solutions.
“In the long run, it’s all about money…we haven’t spent enough, and we won’t get back,” he noted.
He proposed a “funeral tax,” arguing that Ghana invests heavily in funerals while hospitals remain underfunded. “If we cut down the period bodies are kept in fridges and channelled that money into healthcare, it would make sense,” he said.
Source: adomonline.com
