Nobody looked! - Family of hit-and-run victim grieves

It is cruel fate that the victim of the hit-and-run incident refused medical care at three facilities was a brother of two medical doctors.

When fate struck on February 6, 2026, Charles Amissah, 29, who died of his wounds this month after he was denied care at the Police Hospital, the Greater Accra Regional Hospital and the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, had neither of his two sisters who are medical doctors in close proximity to offer help.

One of them, Dr (Med) Matilda Amissah, a medical doctor at the Emergency Unit of the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, is an award winning emergency care professional for her dedicated service to human care.

When emergency knocked on her family’s door, other doctors and emergency facilities looked away as the accident victim, her only brother, bled to death.

Speaking through tears, Dr Amissah said her brother's death could have been prevented if only someone had taken a look at his injuries.The 29-year-old victim was said to be bleeding profusely from a

deep shoulder laceration after a hit-and-run incident at the Nkrumah Circle Overpass in Accra on February 6.

She said there were several ways his brother could have been saved.

“I've saved lives and people come and thank me at the emergency unit. I won an award for Best Emergency Medical Officer.

“I went for Osabarima Royal Awards for Best Department Emergency, and in less than a month, this is what has happened to my brother.

“I'm looking at his injuries and I'm like, there are 1,000 ways to save this shoulder, but nobody looked, nobody looked. It's heartbreaking,” she said sobbing uncontrollably.

She said the news of her brother’s death shattered the family, particularly their mother, who is still struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.

“Honestly, the news of his passing broke me. I’ve worked in emergency care for two years, and I have never experienced a situation where an accident victim is turned away by health workers.

“It really, really broke my mum,” she told the Daily Graphic.

Investigations

Already, two doctors and two nurses at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital have been interdicted pending the outcome of an investigation instituted by the Ministry of Health, the management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA).

Dr Amissah stated that emergency care should not be dependent on whether a person was related to a doctor or a politician, stressing that everyone deserved care, regardless.

“Right now, people are scared, scared that if something happens and you call for help, there may be no bed,” she said.

On February 6, Charles Amissah, then an engineer at Promasidor Ghana Limited, had closed from work at the North Industrial Area in Accra and was riding on his motorcycle on his way home to Adenta when he was involved in a hit-and-run incident.

The National Ambulance Service responded and first took him to the Police Hospital, then to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge Hospital) before taking him to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
For close to three hours, all three major hospitals refused to offer emergency care, citing no space within the facilities.

At Korle Bu, the Ambulance Service declined to further transport Mr Amissah to the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) at Legon due to the deterioration of his condition.

The victim later went into cardiac arrest, and even though cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was immediately initiated, he died. 

Charles Amissah

Beyond the circumstances of his death, Dr Amissah described her brother as “quiet and reserved”,  who had  incredible engineering skills.

Funeral arrangement

She said the family had been contacted by officials from HeFRA to express condolences, and insisted that an error had occurred.

Dr Amissah said the family was now focused on laying her brother to rest and not considering legal action at the moment

“We haven’t discussed that. We want to lay him to rest first,” she said.

She said funeral arrangements were underway, with burial scheduled for Friday, February 27.

“The funeral will be held from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Resurrection Methodist Chapel, Adenta. His workplace has been incredibly supportive; they’ve taken on more than 50 per cent of the burial costs,” she said.