Former Member of Parliament for Assin Central Kennedy Ohene Agyapong has entered the national debate over Ghana’s persistent no-bed syndrome, revealing on social media that he has personally donated more than one million dollars in beds, equipment and medical supplies to public hospitals across the country and calling for frank national conversation to end the crisis.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Agyapong said the situation in which a critically ill Ghanaian is turned away from a hospital for lack of a bed is unacceptable and demands honest acknowledgement from political leaders rather than deflection.
“As a country, we must begin to speak more honestly about the painful reality confronting our healthcare system the persistent no-bed syndrome,” he wrote. “It is unacceptable that in this day and age, a Ghanaian in critical condition can be turned away from a hospital simply because there is no bed available.”
Agyapong said he donated $145,000 in cash and approximately 200 hospital beds to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi to support its oncology department and emergency care capacity. He also listed donations of beds, wheelchairs, and medical consumables to the Ho Teaching Hospital, Agogo Hospital, Tamale Teaching Hospital, and the Assin Fosu Roman Catholic Hospital. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he said he extended support nationwide in the form of beds, personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical logistics valued at approximately one million dollars.
The former MP’s comments come as the no-bed crisis remains a live and intensely contested issue. A viral video showing patients receiving care on the floor of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Centre sparked national outrage in late March after circulating on social media. The hospital’s Chief Executive Officer disputed the footage and suggested it may have been artificially generated, but Emergency Medicine Residents and the Korle Bu Doctors Association (KODA) publicly confirmed its authenticity, accusing management of staging a clean-up before the Health Minister’s inspection visit.
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has separately stated that the video reflects documented conditions in various hospital wards across the country.
The crisis has its roots in Ghana’s chronic shortage of inpatient infrastructure. The country has approximately 0.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people, far below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended minimum of five.
