The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi has temporarily suspended new admissions at its Accident and Emergency (A&E) Centre after patient numbers surpassed the facility’s maximum capacity, management announced Tuesday.
The hospital’s Public Affairs Unit said the 37-bed facility was managing 61 admitted patients across its critical care zones, with a further 34 patients awaiting admission. The decision to halt new cases for 24 hours was taken to protect critically ill patients already under care and to prevent further strain on emergency staff.
KATH urged residents to seek emergency services at other hospitals in the Ashanti Region while management engaged the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate to redirect incoming cases. The hospital said the situation was being monitored periodically and that admissions would resume once capacity eased.
The suspension places a spotlight on a structural vulnerability that health officials and hospital management have publicly flagged for years. KATH is the only tertiary health facility in the Ashanti Region, receiving referrals from 13 of Ghana’s 16 regions. A former KATH chief executive warned in March 2026 that patients in Kumasi face materially lower survival odds in emergencies than those in Accra precisely because no comparable backup emergency facility exists in the region.
The crisis comes despite President Mahama’s February 2026 directive warning hospitals against turning away emergency patients, and a government pledge to fast-track completion of KATH’s long-delayed maternity block to ease congestion.
Emergency physicians remain on duty at the A&E Centre to manage the current caseload, the hospital said.
