Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh says the government has begun piloting a real-time electronic system to track emergency beds across selected hospitals.

He says the initiative aims to improve the management of scarce emergency care resources and tackle the persistent “no bed” challenge.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Wednesday, Mr Akandoh disclosed that a command centre has been established at the Ridge Hospital to monitor the availability of emergency beds.

He said the system gives him direct visibility of the situation at participating facilities.

“Regarding the bed management system, we have started the pilot. We have the command centre at Ridge Hospital. What this is doing is giving us visibility, and so I have a screen in my office, so that if Kolebu says there’s no bed, I’m able to see how many beds are available, how many patients are in the emergency.”

The minister confirmed that the screen is physically located in his office.

“Yes, literally. And tomorrow, if you’re interested, we’ll take you to the command centre. You go there, and they will take you through.”

The pilot currently covers selected regional hospitals and teaching hospitals.

Mr Akandoh said the system will allow authorities to monitor how long patients remain in emergency beds.

“With Korle-bu, I’ll be able to know how many beds are occupied in the emergency, how many days you have spent on that bed.”

He said the system will also allow the command centre to question cases where patients remain in emergency beds for extended periods.

“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.”

The minister stressed that the technology is not intended to create additional beds immediately. Instead, it is expected to ensure existing beds are used more efficiently.

“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.”

The government is also pursuing physical expansion of emergency facilities at Komfo Anokye, Tamale, Korle Bu and the 37 Military Hospital.

At Korle Bu, Mr Akandoh said the emergency unit currently has about 67 beds, despite the hospital having more than 1,000 beds in total.

He said a major expansion is being undertaken as part of a wider redevelopment project.

“We are looking at the expansion as part of the remodelling of Korle-bu,” he said, adding that a 400-bed facility is being constructed.

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

The minister also disclosed that beds in participating facilities have been fitted with barcodes to support the tracking system.

“Yes, the beds have barcodes, and there are commanders at each facility to be putting the data in at every moment, so we are done with all that.”

Ambulance services are also being integrated into the system.

“The ambulance people are also on board; when they pick up the patient, they go to the system. They’re able to know we have to send the patient here.”

Mr Akandoh further said that more than 200 ambulances are currently operational, following efforts to restore vehicles that had been grounded.

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

“We are going to replenish the fleet in 2027. We are going to add 100 brand-new vehicles.”