Ghana’s Minister of Health Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has disclosed that only five percent of health facilities nationwide possess the full range of equipment needed to deliver quality care, a revelation that follows the death of a pregnant woman at the hospital he was visiting.
Akandoh visited the Mother and Child Hospital in Kasoa on Wednesday, May 14, after reports that a pregnant woman died during labour because a requested caesarean section could not be performed due to a shortage of available beds in the recovery ward.
“The equipment status in this country is very, very poor,” Akandoh told journalists after the tour.
The minister confirmed that official ministry data shows just one in twenty health facilities across Ghana currently operates with a complete complement of medical equipment, a figure he described as a challenge inherited from the previous administration.
As an immediate response, Akandoh ordered the deployment of three medical doctors and five midwives to the Kasoa facility and directed management to submit a list of critical equipment needs, pledging that supplies would be provided within 24 to 48 hours. He also approved the mechanisation of five hospital orderlies and directed that closed-circuit television systems remain operational at all times.
The minister said the government had begun procuring and distributing medical and hospital equipment across the country, though he acknowledged the scale of the crisis meant the response would be gradual. “We have started,” he said, adding that the work could not be completed at once.
Akandoh also raised concerns about patient management standards at the Kasoa facility, instructing staff to ensure patients arriving at the facility entrance received immediate attention and directing all personnel to wear visible identification at all times.
The disclosure places renewed pressure on the government’s flagship healthcare agenda. The administration has committed to a free primary healthcare programme and has allocated significant resources to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the 2026 budget, but the five percent equipment figure underscores the depth of infrastructure challenges that financing reforms alone cannot quickly resolve.
