The Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has ordered managers of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) not to attend to patients with non-critical ailments.

This, he said will reduce overcrowding at the teaching hospital which is taking a toll on its Accident and Emergency Centre.

According to him, the situation where patients rush to Korle-Bu with the least of ailments when it is meant to be a referral centre is partly to blame for the worsening congestion at the nation’s premier health facility.

The minister in an interview, however, indicated that government would commission another Accident and Emergency Centre at Korle Bu by next week Friday.

“Korle Bu was set up initially as a strict referral facility when it comes to emergencies. We cannot sack people away from Korle Bu, but everyone wants to go Korle Bu without referrals. The pressure we are all putting on Korle Bu is becoming too much for the facility,” he said.

Relatives of some patients who visited the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on Tuesday had to buy plastic chairs to enable doctors and nurses to attend to them.

This follows the Ministry of Health’s directive to hospitals not to turn away patients who arrive with emergency cases even if there are no beds to accommodate them.

According to an Accra based Citi FM, other patients who could not afford plastic chairs were being attended to on the bare floor in a congested room.