It has emerged that while patients are dying at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for a lack of equipment, about GH₵700,000 worth of equipment are deteriorating in boxes.

CEO of the hospital, Dr Gilbert Buckle, told Joy News, some of the equipment do not meet the specifications requested, some equipment could not be used because the infrastructure where they are to be installed are not ready.

“So they stayed in boxes, now you open them up and because of the delay in using them the plastics and parts have become caked or become damaged”.

A health crisis has broken out at Korle-Bu after management announced the closure of three surgical clinics from February 6, 2016, a move that is set to worsen the plight of brain and spinal tumor patients seeking remedy.

Already, its Intensive Care Unit has been shut down for two years for renovation works.

The crisis is also down to a lack of logistics and equipment. A 21-year old undergrad died after she was asked to wait for six months before she could get surgery.

Her story is one of many frustrated families who have had to watch their loved ones die because of a lack of basic equipment such as nebulisers.

Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the largest in West Africa is the last hope for patients with a certain category of medical conditions in Ghana like those suffering from cancers and tumours.

“The patient has nowhere to go. They have nowhere to go. Nowhere and it is sad,” Dr Hadi Mohammed Abdallah, who speaks for the Specialists at Korle-Bu said.He said doctors are being abused and insulted for failing to save lives for no fault of theirs.

Doctors are struggling to perform emergency surgeries and Joy News' Hannah Odame reports only ‘extreme emergencies’ can be attended to.

Ghanaians are raising questions at the state of healthcare at Korle-Bu and why conditions were left to reach a crisis point.

Dr Hadi Mohammed Abdallah believes the crisis of healthcare at the hospital can be resolved in a week if government shows the same commitment it shows to Ghana’s senior national football team, the Black Stars.

In the unfolding crisis, it has also emerged, poor management practices at Korle-Bu is to partly to blame for the crisis.

While expressing his disappointment, the Chief Executive Dr Gilbert Buckle suggested the crisis is avoidable.

“We have equipment that are on batteries because they have not been used and the batteries have run out” Dr. Gilbert Buckle continued the list of problems at Korle-Bu.

He said some of the consumables and equipment which remain unused have gone past its warranty period and so makes it difficult to ask the supplier to replace any equipment even if it was faulty.

Dr. Gilbert Buckle who was not CEO at the time of the re-tooling said the hospital now has to find GHC₵700,000 to equip the hospital.

“It will have to be part of our own cost” he ruled out government support. Although the hospital has issues to raise with its suppliers, the Chief Executive says now is not the time.

But he vowed to hold negligent officials of the hospital accountable.

“Who signed it? Who was supposed to have followed up on it?…we are documenting all the challenges we have faced”

In the meantime, critically ill patients are being re-directed from the neurosurgical ward to the main surgical theatre for treatment. There are long queues and a pervasive feeling of uncertainty because patients do not know when they are expected to get treatment

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