Ghana tests system to reduce hospital bed refusals
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Ghanaian Times
Ghana is testing a digital bed management system to direct patients to facilities with available capacity. President John Dramani Mahama also announced emergency capacity equivalent to 10% of functional beds, according to the Ghanaian Times.
Ghana has tested the Integrated Bed Management and Referral Coordination (IBMRC) digital system to identify facilities with available beds and direct patients to structures able to care for them. President John Dramani Mahama announced the system on Friday at the 68th annual conference of the Ghana Medical Association in Miotso, according to the Ghanaian Times.
The pilot project involves the Korle Bu, Komfo Anokye and Tamale teaching hospitals, the Greater Accra Regional Hospital at Ridge, 37 Military Hospital, the University of Ghana Medical Centre and the National Ambulance Service. Korle Bu has 1,500 functional beds, but its accident and emergency department currently has only 65 beds. The government wants to raise emergency capacity to at least 10% of each facility's functional capacity, or at least 150 beds at Korle Bu, according to John Dramani Mahama cited by the Ghanaian Times.
Expansion work on the emergency departments of Korle Bu, Komfo Anokye, Tamale and 37 Military Hospital is due to begin in 2027. The new capacity will be accompanied by staff, equipment, oxygen and essential supplies, the president said.
John Dramani Mahama also called for no patient to be refused because of a lack of beds. A facility unable to provide the required treatment must at least assess and stabilise the patient before arranging a transfer to another hospital, according to the Ghanaian Times. The IBMRC trial comes after the announcement on 8 November that Ghana wants to roll out electronic hospital bed management.
