The Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA) has commenced a comprehensive enforcement exercise across parts of the Greater Accra Region, shutting down health centres that operate without valid licenses.
The exercise, which forms part of a nationwide inspection, has revealed worrying lapses in Ghana’s health delivery system, with some facilities found to be operating on expired licenses dating back to 2015.
HeFRA officials, accompanied by police personnel, began the operation with an unannounced visit to the Life Healthcare Centre located inside the Accra Mall.
Patients were receiving treatment when the inspection team arrived, only for it to emerge that the facility’s operational license had expired ten years ago.
Management claimed they were in the process of renewing the license, but officials were unconvinced. The centre was subsequently locked, with officials also ordering the closure of another branch of the same company at the Junction Mall, which was operating under a slightly different name.
According to the Health Institutions and Facilities Act, “No person shall operate a facility unless the facility is licensed under this Act.” HeFRA officials insist the law leaves no room for negotiation.
The team then proceeded to Med-line Medical Laboratories at Ashaley Botwe, where a similar situation unfolded. Their license expired in July 2024.
Fifteen months on, they were still operating. Police had to step in, escorting staff out as frantic phone calls went unanswered.
At the Covenant Clinic Limited at Madina Social Welfare, inspectors described the conditions as deplorable, with peeling paint, a leaking roof, and an open washroom inside the ward. The facility also had no valid license, hence locked down.
The Doku Addy Memorial Clinic was next to be shut down after HeFRA confirmed it had no permit to operate.
HeFRA says the exercise will continue across the region and eventually extend nationwide. The agency maintains that facilities found operating without valid licenses will be closed.
As the clampdown continues, the revelations have reignited concerns about patient safety and regulatory enforcement in Ghana’s health sector, raising the question of how many more such facilities may still be operating unchecked.
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