The crisis engulfing the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has taken a new turn, with nurses and midwives threatening to join an ongoing industrial action unless the suspension of the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is immediately reversed.
The latest development follows a decision by the Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, to suspend the KATH CEO for two weeks after management temporarily halted fresh admissions at the hospital’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) Centre due to severe congestion and overwhelming patient numbers.
In a notice addressed to the Chairman of the KATH Board, the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) at KATH declared its solidarity with the Komfo Anokye Doctors Association (KADA) and other health worker groups protesting the minister’s action.
According to the GRNMA, the suspension of the CEO does not address the real challenges confronting the hospital, including chronic overcrowding, inadequate infrastructure, logistics shortages and limited resources.
“The two-week suspension of the Chief Executive Officer is unnecessary and is definitely not the solution to the enormous pressure, infrastructural challenges, congestion, inadequate logistics and resource constraints confronting the hospital on a daily basis,” the association stated.
The nurses and midwives argued that patient safety and quality healthcare delivery could not be improved through disciplinary action against hospital management, insisting that frontline health professionals continue to work under extremely difficult conditions.
The association noted that KATH remains one of Ghana’s largest referral and teaching hospitals, receiving thousands of referrals from across the country, particularly from the middle and northern sectors, despite operating under significant infrastructural constraints.
The latest threat of industrial action underscores a broader healthcare challenge facing the Ashanti Region, where KATH bears the bulk of emergency and specialist healthcare delivery.
Although the region is home to several district and municipal hospitals, KATH remains the principal tertiary referral facility for millions of people across the middle and northern belts of the country. Health professionals have repeatedly complained that available infrastructure, equipment and staffing levels have failed to keep pace with increasing patient demand.
The GRNMA has therefore called on the Ministry of Health to expedite the operationalisation of the long-delayed Sewua Hospital and other healthcare facilities intended to reduce pressure on KATH.
The association also demanded urgent retooling of KATH and its referral facilities, expansion of infrastructure and increased resource allocation to enable the hospital function effectively as a centre of excellence.
Additionally, the nurses and midwives called for the immediate withdrawal of the CEO’s suspension and urged authorities to empower hospital management to address the growing healthcare challenges facing the institution.
“We appeal for urgent retooling of KATH and its referral facilities, infrastructural expansion and adequate resource allocation to enable KATH function effectively as a true Centre of Excellence comparable to internationally recognised tertiary hospitals,” the statement stressed.
The association warned that nurses and midwives at KATH would join the industrial action from 8:00 a.m. on June 7, 2026, if the minister’s directive is not reversed.
The threat raises fears of a major disruption to healthcare delivery at the country’s second-largest teaching hospital, which serves patients from more than eight regions and acts as the final referral point for many critical and emergency cases.
The GRNMA appealed to the KATH Board to intervene and engage relevant stakeholders to avert what it described as a potentially widespread industrial action that could further strain healthcare services.
The unfolding impasse has intensified calls for government to urgently address longstanding infrastructure deficits in the Ashanti Region’s health sector, with healthcare workers insisting that the root cause of the current crisis lies not in management decisions, but in years of inadequate investment in facilities needed to support the growing healthcare needs of the population.
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