{"id":103542,"date":"2025-11-16T15:35:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T15:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103542"},"modified":"2025-11-16T15:35:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T15:35:44","slug":"health-experts-warn-ghana-risks-death-care-system-if-reforms-arent-prioritised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103542","title":{"rendered":"Health experts warn Ghana risks \u2018death care\u2019 system if reforms aren\u2019t prioritised"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Health experts have raised deep concerns about Ghana\u2019s healthcare system, warning that years of poor prioritisation, weak institutional discipline, political interference and chronic underinvestment are pushing the country closer to what they described as \u201cdeath care\u201d rather than true healthcare.<\/p>\n

They were speaking at the Achimota Speaks event, where panelists discussed the topic: \u201cHealthcare or Death Care<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former NHIA CEO Dr. Lydia Dsane-Selby, dissecting the systemic failures, said Ghana has made progress in reducing infectious diseases but is struggling to manage the growing burden of non-communicable diseases due to inefficiencies and neglect.<\/p>\n

She explained that although Ghana has eliminated diseases like measles for years, the health system remains weak in dealing with the new realities.<\/p>\n

\u201cGhana\u2026I think, hasn\u2019t 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\u2019t seen it for so long,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Selby raised concerns about the inefficiencies within health service delivery, noting that even with adequate medical expertise, systems below the top tier remain broken.<\/p>\n

She stressed that the biggest challenge is equity and prioritisation, recalling her shock at a programme promoting pediatric stents costing $20,000 each, while rural communities struggle for basic healthcare.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot have policies that are only for the elite. We have to think about the rural areas and fair practice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She also warned against blindly copying Western systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

On financing, she stated that money is important, but it must be used wisely.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll in all, money is important. But America has shown us that money isn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to her, political interference, failure to follow policies, and collapsing institutions fuel the decline.<\/p>\n

On his part, the CEO of Chiron Health Consult, William Delali Ofori, said Ghana\u2019s major problem is not a lack of policies but failure to execute them.<\/p>\n

He noted that across the country, health facilities function or collapse depending on the commitment of individuals rather than systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know how to execute. Our facilities are poorly maintained, poorly resourced, with almost no standard operating procedures. It\u2019s the same story from CHPS compounds to tertiary hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Ghana\u2019s system often appears like death care because of broken processes, lack of accountability, poor emergency response, and the absence of communication between ambulances and hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you hear an ambulance siren, it doesn\u2019t mean the person has been rescued,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

Consultant neurosurgeon at the Accra Medical Center, Dr. Teddy Totimeh, said Ghana must face the reality that improving healthcare requires sustained investment, strong advocacy, and innovative domestic revenue solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the long run, it\u2019s all about money\u2026we haven\u2019t spent enough, and we won\u2019t get back.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also proposed a \u201cfuneral tax\u201d, arguing that Ghana spends excessively on funerals while hospitals remain underfunded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we cut down the period bodies are kept in fridges and channelled that money into healthcare, it would make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"HealthHealth experts have raised deep concerns about Ghana\u2019s healthcare system, warning that years of poor prioritisation, weak institutional discipline, political interference and chronic underinvestment are pushing the country closer to what they described as \u201cdeath care\u201d rather than true healthcare.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12595,12596,12597,536,7,3174,1883,10,9,12598],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-achimota-speaks","category-dr-lydia-dsane-selby","category-dr-teddy-totimeh","category-ghana","category-health","category-healthcare","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-william-delali-ofori"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}