Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital has temporarily halted new emergency admissions after severe overcrowding pushed its facilities beyond capacity, a hospital official has confirmed.

Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday (3 June), the hospital’s Public Relations Officer, Kwame Frimpong, said the decision followed urgent concerns raised by clinicians over unsafe patient loads.

“The centre was built for 37 patients, but we currently have far more than that, with additional cases waiting for admission,” he said.

Frimpong explained that critical units within the emergency department are operating far above their intended limits. The red zone, originally designed for the most critical cases, is handling roughly double its capacity, while the orange ward is accommodating nearly three times its designated number of patients.

He said the situation made it impossible to safely admit new emergency cases, prompting management to redirect less critical patients to other health facilities across the region.

“It became clear we could not create space for new patients, so it was prudent to direct some cases to peripheral hospitals for preliminary care,” he said.

Authorities have since coordinated with the Ghana Health Service and regional hospitals to ease the pressure, including setting up referral pathways and remote specialist support for facilities receiving diverted patients.

Despite the strain, Frimpong described the situation as a “recurring challenge”, attributing it to the hospital’s role as a major referral centre serving multiple regions.

“Almost all emergency cases in this region end up here, and even cases from other regions are referred to us,” he said.

He stressed that the crisis is rooted not only in bed shortages but in longstanding infrastructure constraints, noting that the hospital has operated within largely unchanged physical space for decades.

“The same space we have today is what we have been using since operations began in 1955, despite a much larger population,” he said.

Frimpong renewed calls for urgent expansion of the facility and completion of ongoing projects, including a stalled maternity and children’s block, as well as broader investment in regional hospitals to reduce pressure on referral centres.

“The problem is structural. Without expansion and strengthening of other hospitals, the pressure on Komfo Anokye will persist,” he said.

The hospital’s temporary suspension of admissions has raised concerns about emergency care access, particularly for critically ill patients requiring immediate specialist attention.