The headlines in Ghana this week have been a haunting echo of years past.

A 29-year-old engineer, in the prime of his life, died after being shuttled between three major public hospitals. The reason? A two-word death sentence: “No bed.”

As a nation, we have mourned these “preventable” tragedies for decades.

From the 70-year-old man turned away by seven hospitals in 2018 to the hit-and-run victims of 2026, the script remains the same.

But here is the uncomfortable truth that the Institute for Liberty and Economic Education (ILEE) must speak:

The “No-Bed Syndrome” is not a failure of medicine or furniture; it is a failure of central planning.

The Fallacy of the Government Monopoly

For too long, Ghana’s health strategy has been built on the “Agenda 111” logic—the belief that if the government just builds enough concrete structures, the crisis will vanish.

Yet, history shows that state-run monopolies are inherently rigid. In the public sector, a “no bed” response isn’t just an admission of full capacity; it is a symptom of a system that lacks the incentive to innovate or adapt.

In a free market, a customer turned away is a lost opportunity for growth and a stain on a provider’s reputation.

In our state-monopolized system, a patient turned away is simply “someone else’s problem.”

When there is no competition, there is no urgency. When there is no price signal, there is no efficient way to move resources from where they are idle to where they are needed most.

A Market-Based Path to Survival

If we truly want to stop the dying, we must stop the red tape.

First, we must deregulate. Agencies like HeFRA (Health Facilities Regulatory Agency) must shift from being “gatekeepers” to “facilitators.”

We need to make it as easy for a medical entrepreneur to set up a modular, high-tech emergency stabilization unit as it is to open a pharmacy.

Small, specialized private trauma centers scattered across our cities can act as “pressure valves” for the overwhelmed Korle Bus and Ridges.

Secondly, we must implement Emergency Care Vouchers.

The current National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) model is too slow for the “Golden Hour” of emergency care. ILEE proposes a “Money Follows the Patient” model.

If a public hospital cannot provide a bed, the state should automatically issue a digital voucher that pays for the patient’s immediate stabilization at the nearest private facility.

This would create an instant, decentralized network of emergency beds that the state doesn’t have to build, manage, or maintain.

Thirdly, we must embrace Private-Led Technology.

The government’s attempts to track beds via central databases have been plagued by manual entries and slow updates.

Let the private sector build a real-time “Bed-Marketplace” app, an Uber for ambulances.

When private developers compete to provide the most accurate data, ambulance drivers won’t have to guess where to go; the market will tell them.

Conclusion: Choice Saves Lives*

The 24-hour economy we discuss in Parliament should start with our emergency rooms. But we cannot legislate shifts into existence; we must incentivize them.

By granting tax holidays to private investors who build Level-1 emergency units, we can unlock billions in private capital that is currently sitting on the sidelines.

The state has had 69 years to solve the “No-Bed Syndrome” and has failed. It is time to let the Ghanaian medical entrepreneur, the tech innovator, and the private investor step in.

We don’t need more government-built wards; we need the freedom to save ourselves.

Let this be the last time a Ghanaian dies for lack of a bed in a city full of empty rooms.

By: Jacob Aggrey

The Dri Management of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), have clarified news headlines over the extended services of Authority to selected foreign countries.

According to DVLA in a statement, “For clarity, the DVLA, through an arrangement with the Foreign Affairs Ministry has agreed to collaborate with Ghana’s Embassies across the globe to provide selected services including International Driver’s Permit and Driver’s Licence Renewal to qualified Ghanaian citizens domiciled in others countries.

This pilot phase will be undertaken in the United States of America, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands and the High Commission of the United Kingdom.

As part of the implementation plan, the DVLA wlill provide training to Embassy staff to do iverification of documents and forward same to DVLA for processing, and once the processing is done, the Authority would then return the processed documents to the various Embassies for pick-up by the applicants.

According to the DVLA, this operation does not in any way mean that, the DVLA would post its domestic staff to work at Embassies in the aforementioned countries as the news headlines sought to portray
We wish to indicate that the Management of DVLA are committed to serving the interest of Ghanaians and has consistently pursued an agenda to place the services of the Authority closer to the people to minimize defaults as well as promote compliance.

“We want to reiterate that the Authority practices an open-door policy anc encourages the media and individuals who require clarity or information on the operations of the DVLA to approach the Corporate Affairs Department for such details to avoid such misleading reportage,” they concluded.

By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme