Patients were left stranded at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) on Thursday, April 24, 2025, following an indefinite suspension of emergency and outpatient services by the facility’s doctors.
Reports from the hospital indicated that many patients who had arrived early in the morning were met with empty consulting rooms and no medical staff available to attend to them.
Some said they had been waiting since dawn, only to discover that services were no longer being offered.
Patients expressed confusion and frustration, with some telling reporters that they had not been informed of any strike prior to their arrival.
“We came expecting to see doctors today, but no one is here. There is no information. We are just sitting and waiting,” one elderly patient reportedly said.
The disruption follows a decision made by the Doctors’ Association of Tamale Teaching Hospital (DATTH) during an emergency general assembly meeting held the previous day. The Association said its members were indefinitely suspending all emergency and outpatient services in response to what it described as “unwarranted attacks” by Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh and Tamale North MP Alhassan Suhuyini.
According to the doctors, the decision was triggered by an incident during the Minister’s visit to the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit on Tuesday, April 22.
In a statement released on April 23, the association claimed that the minister and the MP had shown disrespect and issued public criticisms that they considered unjustified and demoralizing.
The Association announced that the affected services included the General Outpatient Department (OPD), antenatal clinic, specialist clinic, and the paediatrics OPD.
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