ACCRA, Oct 7 (The African Portal) – Ghana’s Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA) has launched an enforcement operation in the Greater Accra Region, closing down health centres found to be operating without valid licences.
The inspections, part of a nationwide exercise, have uncovered major regulatory lapses, with some facilities reportedly running on licences that expired as far back as 2015.
HeFRA officials, supported by police officers, began the operation with an unannounced visit to the Life Healthcare Centre located inside Accra Mall.
Patients were receiving treatment when inspectors discovered that the centre’s licence had expired ten years ago. Management claimed renewal processes were underway, but officials ordered the facility closed. Another branch at the Junction Mall, operating under a slightly different name, was also shut down.
Under Ghana’s Health Institutions and Facilities Act, no person or organisation is permitted to operate a health facility without a valid licence.
The team later visited Med-line Medical Laboratories at Ashaley Botwe, where they found a similar violation. The laboratory’s licence had expired in July 2024, yet it was still operating 15 months later. Police escorted staff out of the premises as management failed to respond to calls from the inspection team.
At the Covenant Clinic Limited in Madina, inspectors described the conditions as “deplorable”, citing a leaking roof, peeling paint and an open washroom inside a patient ward. The clinic was also found to be unlicensed and subsequently closed.
Another facility, Doku Addy Memorial Clinic, was ordered to shut down after HeFRA confirmed it had no permit to operate.
HeFRA says the exercise will continue across the region before being extended nationwide. The agency has warned that all unlicensed facilities will be closed to protect public health and safety.
The findings have reignited public concern about oversight and patient safety in Ghana’s healthcare sector, amid questions over how many more unlicensed facilities may still be operating.
