The Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA) has begun a two-pronged regulatory intervention in the Northern Region, launching an investigation int
The Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA) has begun a two-pronged regulatory intervention in the Northern Region, launching an investigation into the Tamale Central Hospital while simultaneously granting conditional approval for the reopening of the Tamale Technical University (TaTU) Hospital after weeks of enforced closure.
The developments come amid growing concerns over hygiene, compliance failures, and management disputes within key health facilities in Tamale.
In a press release dated November 25, 2025, HeFRA announced the start of special monitoring and investigations into Tamale Central Hospital following a viral video that captured agitated youth storming the facility.
Their actions were triggered by allegations of mismanagement, poor sanitation, and an ongoing strike by hospital orderlies.
The video displayed troubling scenes, including overflowing dustbins and compromised infection-prevention practices, raising serious questions about the facility’s adherence to national healthcare standards.
Responding swiftly, HeFRA dispatched an emergency investigative team to the hospital to assess the situation.
The team met with the hospital’s management as well as striking orderlies, whose industrial action contributed to the sanitation breakdown at the centre.
The agency revealed that a deeper engagement process was underway involving relevant stakeholders as part of a long-term solution to the recurrent sanitation and management tensions at Tamale Central Hospital.
HeFRA assured the public that appropriate action would follow to safeguard the delivery of safe and quality healthcare, urging residents of Tamale to remain calm while investigations proceed.
While attention remained focused on the crisis at the Central Hospital, HeFRA simultaneously issued a separate update—dated November 28, 2025—concerning the Tamale Technical University Hospital, which had been shut down earlier in the month.
The TaTU Hospital was closed on November 7, 2025, after HeFRA determined that the facility was operating under dangerously compromised conditions, particularly with regard to infection prevention and safety standards.
The closure followed an inspection triggered by intelligence reports and footage indicating serious lapses in hygiene protocols and operational compliance.
However, after nearly three weeks of enforced shutdown, HeFRA has now granted the university’s hospital approval to resume operations.
A re-inspection conducted on November 24, 2025, reportedly showed significant improvements, prompting the agency to issue a six-month provisional operational license.
In addition, the agency instructed the facility’s management to resume healthcare service provision on Saturday, November 29, 2025.
HeFRA stressed that although TaTU Hospital has been cleared to reopen, the agency will maintain strict monitoring of its operations to ensure continued adherence to national healthcare standards.
The provisional license is expected to be reviewed after the six-month period, depending on the hospital’s compliance and improvement record.
Both press statements were signed by Dr. Winfred Korletey Baah, Acting Registrar of HeFRA, who reiterated that the agency’s overarching mandate under the Health Institutions and Facilities Act, 2011 (Act 829) is to ensure that health facilities—public and private—offer services in safe environments that protect both patients and healthcare workers.
In recent months, HeFRA has intensified nationwide enforcement exercises, cracking down on unlicensed operations and hygiene breaches amid rising public pressure for improved healthcare standards.
The dual actions—investigating one major facility while restoring another—signal HeFRA’s broader regulatory posture aimed at tightening oversight across the country’s healthcare system.
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