Consultant neurosurgeon Dr. Teddy Totimeh has raised concerns about the financial structure of Ghana’s public hospital system, warning that the dominance of wage expenditure leaves little room for investment in life-saving infrastructure.
He points directly to the budget structure as a root cause of inefficiency.
“When 80% of money in the public hospital system is invested into wages and salaries, it is near impossible to make financing of efficient medical infrastructure a priority.”
According to him, this funding imbalance has slowed the development of integrated facilities capable of handling complex surgical and emergency cases. He notes that fewer than 10% of public hospitals are equipped with advanced imaging required for complex surgery.
Drawing from his own experience in private practice, he describes how rare fully integrated surgical ecosystems are in Ghana.
“The hospital I work in is the only privately owned building in Accra with MRI, CT scan, ICU and Operating Rooms in the same geographical footprint. And this is a pity, in 2026.”
He explains that in the private sector, financial prudence often drives hospitals to separate imaging, laboratory and patient care services into different locations, forcing critically ill patients to move between facilities. In the public sector, meanwhile, evolving disease patterns, including the rise of noncommunicable diseases and cancer, have not been matched with corresponding financial restructuring.
The result, he argues, is a fragile emergency care system where only a few centres can properly receive critically ill patients, leaving staff overstretched and infrastructure inadequate.
He challenges the common description of Ghana’s crisis as merely a shortage of beds.
“We continue to refer to our predicament as a no bed syndrome, but it is really a no responsibility syndrome.”
He stresses that the deeper issue is systemic accountability, stretching from frontline emergency units to policy leadership.
Despite these structural weaknesses, he says quality care still happens because individuals step up when systems fall short.
“All proper medical care happens, because medical staff take responsibility.”
Dr. Totimeh’s assessment underscores a stark reality: until Ghana rebalances hospital financing and deliberately invests in integrated medical infrastructure, emergency and complex surgical care will remain vulnerable, and dependent more on individual sacrifice than on systemic strength.
