Dr Emmanuel Srofenyo, the medical director of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (GARH), has said the intensive care unit for COVID-19 patients at the facility is currently overstretched.

Dr Srofenyo explained the unit which currently has a capacity for 16 patients is also in need of more human resources to contain the situation.

It comes barely a week after President Akufo-Addo confirmed that Ghana had entered a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Beatrice Adu on The Big Bulletin on Tuesday (27 July), Dr  Srofenyo said: “We are now receiving a higher and higher number of cases and it paints an unfortunate picture that we must be all aware of.”

“Which means that individually we must obey the protocols to make sure that we cut this wave that is trying to sweep across the country that is the long and short of it.

“For the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, it is not a constant situation, sometimes we get high number of cases, sometimes we get relatively lower number of cases, but the fact is that the average number of cases we get on daily basis has increased,” he said.

The medical director said the facility is now recording an average of  about ten cases daily.

“…Among our emergencies, maybe one or two test positive, but now the  situation is such that when we submit cases for testing, we get a higher number, sometimes 10…”

Third wave due to non-adherence to COVID-19 protocols


Ghana is currently witnessing a third wave of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic due to lack of strict adherence to safety protocols, Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare, the presidential advisor on health has said.

Speaking on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday 26 July 2021, Dr Asare said: “The reason why we are in a third wave is that we all lost our guard; what we used to do before when the cases started going down, everybody relaxed.”

He added: “And why do I say this, you see people having very big functions, people gathered together not wearing masks at all sort of places, at work place… so everybody including all of us lost our guard.

“That is the reason why the president said we have a third wave, whether we like it or not, we have lost our guard and then we have to go back and do exactly what we were doing before.”

Dr Asare said Ghanaians must ensure they strictly adhere to the COVID-19 protocols to lessen the  pressure on health facilities .

He has, however, ruled out any attempt to return to lockdown following the latest surge in new cases.

Asaase Radio