The Registrar of the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA), Dr. Winfred Korletey Baah, has revealed that some private health facilities in Ghana have been renting medical equipment ahead of scheduled inspections to deceive regulators into believing they are well-equipped.
Speaking on Business Edge on Metro TV on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, Dr. Korletey Baah described the practice as one of the key reasons the agency has started conducting unannounced inspections across the country.
“During our monitoring, we realised that some facilities go and rent equipment when they hear we’re coming for inspection,” he said.
“Once we’re done, they send them back. That’s why we now do what we call unannounced visits and that has yielded results,” he added.
According to the HeFRA boss, these surprise inspections have exposed several facilities operating below acceptable standards, with some “not even fit for human beings to be in.”
Dr. Baah said the agency’s actions are guided by the Health Institutions and Facilities Act, 2011 (Act 829), which mandates HeFRA to inspect, license, and monitor both public and private health facilities.
The ultimate goal, he said, is to ensure that all health institutions provide safe and quality care.
“The law allows us to take a number of actions when we find violations,” he explained.
“We can impose administrative fines, close down facilities, temporarily or permanently, or even take operators to court if there’s a criminal element.”
He noted that any facility operating with an expired licence or without one at all is automatically considered outside HeFRA’s regulation, which raises serious public safety concerns.
Dr. Baah defended HeFRA’s strict licensing requirements, saying they are necessary to protect lives.
“If you tell me you are a clinic and you don’t have a doctor, a medical doctor, we will not give you a licence,” he said.
“If you say you are a diagnostic centre and you don’t have a radiologist, we will not approve you.”
He added that every facility must have qualified and licensed personnel, proper safety systems, and financial stability before they are granted approval to operate.
“You can’t run a hospital if you don’t have enough money to even buy oxygen for the next month,” he noted.
“We require a letter from your bank to show that you are financially stable.”
Dr. Baah also pushed back against claims that HeFRA’s many requirements make it difficult for new facilities to enter the sector.
“This is about human life,” he insisted.
“When one life is lost, there’s nothing you can do to bring it back. So it’s important that we make the entry strict. We are there to protect the public — anybody can be a patient at any time.”
HeFRA’s ongoing enforcement operations, he said, are designed to ensure that health facilities in Ghana meet minimum safety and quality standards, and that no shortcuts are taken when it comes to patient care.
