The government has begun piloting a national emergency bed management system as part of efforts to tackle Ghana’s persistent “no bed syndrome” in hospitals.

Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said the system is designed to give authorities real-time visibility of available beds and patients occupying emergency spaces.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Wednesday, Mr Akandoh said a command centre has been established at the Ridge Hospital to coordinate the system.

“Regarding the bed management system, we have started the pilot. We have the command centre at Ridge Hospital,” he said.

The minister said the system allows him to monitor emergency bed availability from his office.

“I have a screen in my office, so that if Korle-bu says there’s no bed, I’m able to see how many beds are available, how many patients are in the emergency,” he said.

The pilot currently covers selected regional hospitals and teaching hospitals.

Mr Akandoh said the system would also track how long patients remain in emergency wards.

He explained that this would allow authorities to question prolonged stays, particularly where hospitals report a shortage of beds.

“If you’ve been there for more than 24 hours, and they see you are still there, and they say there is no bed. I will be able to ask questions because there’s a whole command centre in charge of that,” he said.

The minister said the system is not intended to create additional beds but to improve the management of existing capacity.

“So this system will not necessarily add more beds, but it will help us to manage the scarce resources, so that one patient will not be on one bed at emergency for more hours or another,” he said.

The government is also expanding emergency capacity at major hospitals, including Korle-Bu, Komfo Anokye, Tamale and 37 Military Hospital.

At Korle-Bu, Mr Akandoh said the emergency unit currently has about 67 beds, compared with more than 1,000 beds across the hospital.

He said a 400-bed facility is being constructed as part of a wider redevelopment project.

“The contractor is on site as I speak to you now. So we call it a hospital within a hospital,” he said.

The minister said the teaching hospitals and regional hospitals are already participating in the system.

He added that beds have been barcoded and designated commanders at each facility are responsible for entering data into the system.

“Yes, the beds have barcodes, and there are commanders at each facility to be putting the data in at every moment,” he said.

The ambulance service has also been integrated into the system to help determine where patients should be sent.

Mr Akandoh said more than 200 ambulances are currently functioning after the government insured all its ambulances in 2025.

He said the government plans to add 100 new ambulances in 2027 to replenish the fleet.

“We are going to add 100 brand-new vehicles,” he said.