-BY Daniel Bampoe
The Suhum Government Hospital in Ghana’s Eastern Region is pleading for urgent intervention to expand and equip its Accident and Emergency (A&E) Center, as mounting pressure from frequent road traffic accidents along the busy Accra-Kumasi highway overwhelms the facility.
The hospital’s Medical Superintendent, Dr. Ahmed Tijani Sulemana, disclosed this during a recent engagement that the facility’s A&E center is severely undersized and ill-equipped to handle the growing number of trauma cases.
“This hospital is very old, and the accident and emergency center is too small for the volume of cases we receive,” he stated.
“Almost all accident victims along this highway end up here, but we simply don’t have the capacity.”
According to Dr. Sulemana, the hospital’s limitations in managing critical emergencies have placed both patients and staff under immense strain.
The current facility lacks basic but essential equipment such as electrocardiogram (ECG) machines, cardiac monitors, and other diagnostic tools vital for emergency response.
“People assume hospitals just have these things, but it’s not that simple. We need help from government and benevolent institutions,” he added.
Beyond infrastructure, the hospital is also grappling with challenges related to health insurance coverage.
Dr. Sulemana lamented that many patients arrive without National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards, making it difficult for staff to provide care or recover costs.
“The services are meant to be accessible, yet people don’t sign up. We end up waiving fees often, but we also need funding to operate.” The hospital’s call has received political backing.
Member of Parliament for Suhum, Frank Asiedu Bekoe, who led a community clean-up exercise at the hospital in partnership with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church on April 27, reiterated the need for an immediate expansion of the A&E center.
Frank Asiedu Bekoe emphasized that Suhum’s strategic location as a midpoint between Accra and Kumasi makes it the default emergency destination for many traffic accidents.
“We cannot wait to build a new hospital. We must start with expanding the emergency center now,” he urged, revealing that the hospital is already working on architectural drawings for a possible extension.
The MP also used the occasion to encourage community-led initiatives to support the hospital.
“I’ve spoken with the municipal health director and hospital administrator. Once the architectural plans are ready, we’ll move to seek funding and stakeholder support,” he assured.
