HeFRA cracks down on unlicensed health facilities in Accra

The Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA) has launched a major enforcement drive in the Greater Accra Region, closing down health centres operating without valid licenses.

The operation, part of a nationwide inspection, has exposed alarming gaps in Ghana’s health system.

Some facilities were found to be running on licenses that expired as far back as 2015.

HeFRA officials, supported by police, began the exercise with an unannounced inspection at the Life Healthcare Centre inside Accra Mall.

Patients were being treated when it emerged the facility’s license had expired ten years earlier. Although management claimed renewal was underway, inspectors were unconvinced and shut the centre down.

A second branch at Junction Mall, operating under a different name, was also locked.

At Med-line Medical Laboratories in Ashaley Botwe, inspectors discovered the license had lapsed in July 2024, yet the facility was still in full operation 15 months later.

Police had to escort staff off the premises as management refused to respond to calls.

Conditions were even more dire at Covenant Clinic Limited near Madina Social Welfare, where inspectors described the facility as “deplorable”, citing peeling walls, a leaking roof, and an open washroom inside the ward.

With no valid license, the clinic was closed immediately.

The Doku Addy Memorial Clinic was also shut down after HeFRA confirmed it had no permit to operate.

Citing the Health Institutions and Facilities Act, HeFRA officials stressed: “No person shall operate a facility unless the facility is licensed under this Act”.

They insist the law allows no exceptions and warned that more closures will follow.