My younger brother was rushed to Korle-Bu Accident & Emergency Centre last month after a motorbike accident in Accra Central. He was bleeding profusely. Instead of receiving immediate care, my mother was told to buy a “registration folder” from a vendor outside for GH₵50, then pay GH₵200 for “emergency processing,” and finally GH₵150 for “initial consumables” before a doctor would see him.

This took 45 minutes. My brother lost consciousness while we ran between three different windows making payments.

When I asked to see the official fee schedule, a senior nurse pulled me aside and said, “Brother, if you don’t pay, you will wait. Those are the rules here.”

I later discovered that Korle-Bu’s official outpatient registration fee is GH₵10. The extra charges are being collected by staff members and external touts with impunity. This happens every day. Patients die waiting for “processing fees” that do not exist.

A BBC investigation last year documented the same extortion. Nothing has changed.

Our Demands:

Immediate dismissal of all staff members found collecting illegal fees at Korle-Bu A&E
Installation of visible, publicly displayed official fee schedules at every entry point
Establishment of an anonymous whistleblower hotline for patients to report extortion
Monthly public audits of all revenue collected by the hospital
Target Authority: Minister of Health, Chief Administrator of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital

Signature Goal: 25,000

Target Recipient: Dr. Opoku Ware Ampomah (Chief Executive, Korle-Bu)