Rot at Tamale Teaching Hospital: time for accountability and real reform

The Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), a cornerstone of healthcare delivery in Northern Ghana, has become emblematic of a systemic rot that undermines not only patient welfare but public trust in our national health system.

Over the years, multiple reports have unearthed troubling issues at TTH --- ranging from blatant procurement violations to petty corruption, medical negligence, and asset mismanagement. These are not isolated incidents. They reflect deep-rooted institutional weaknesses that call for urgent attention.

In 2019, Joy News exposed how a GH¢200,000 drug supply contract was awarded without proper evaluation or tender committee oversight. Around the same time, an infectious disease center built at great cost was rendered useless after GH¢70,000 worth of equipment mysteriously vanished ---

only to be found in a private facility reportedly linked to senior staff.

Patients have reported being charged unofficial fees for services that are supposed to be free under the National Health Insurance Scheme. A 2018 survey by CALID revealed that more than 60% of respondents had encountered extortion in one form or another at the hospital.

Leadership at TTH has not been spared scrutiny. In 2018, then-CEO Dr. David Akolbila was chased out of office by a youth group over allegations of corruption and mismanagement. Most recently, in April 2025, the current CEO was sacked following a patient’s tragic death attributed to negligence.

These issues are not merely bureaucratic failures --- they are matters of life and death. They erode public confidence and deny the most vulnerable access to decent healthcare.

What Needs to Be Done
The time for ad hoc reactions and cosmetic changes is over. If we are serious about restoring TTH to its rightful place as a premier healthcare institution, we must pursue a multi-layered reform agenda:

1. Independent Audit and Oversight: Conduct a full forensic audit of past contracts and resource use at TTH. Civil society should have a seat at the oversight table.

2. Transparent Procurement System: All procurement processes should be digitized, publicly trackable, and subjected to external vetting.

3. Whistleblower Protections: Empower staff and patients to report malpractice without fear of retaliation. Some hospitals resort to use of CCT cameras to check activities that go on a the facility.

4. Leadership Accountability: Appointments should be merit-based, with clearly defined performance targets and consequences for failure. As much as possible, management of TTH needs to be depoliticized. Also, why should indigenes necessarily man the facility when pro-Northern non-Northerners have performed creditably in many spheres in the region?

5. Strengthen Community Engagement: Establish hospital-community liaison boards to monitor service delivery and ethics in real time. A functional Monitoring & Complaints Unit must be in place to help eradicate corrupt practices.

Ghana cannot afford to treat healthcare corruption as a distant, bureaucratic problem. Every cedi misused is a medicine not bought, a doctor not trained, a life possibly lost.

It is time for decisive action --- not only from government, but from media, civil society, and every Ghanaian who believes that access to healthcare is a right, not a privilege corrupted by greed.

Fuseini Abdulai Braimah
0550558008/0500252525 <[a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]]