Ghana has no registered-GP system. You are not enrolled with a family doctor who holds your records and refers you onward. You go to a facility, you see whichever doctor is on, and you carry your own history.

That changes how you should approach it: choose a facility, not a person, and then build a relationship with a doctor inside it.

Your options

A polyclinic or health centre. District-level public facilities for routine care. Covered by NHIS, far shorter queues than a teaching hospital, and the right first stop for most ordinary problems.

A private clinic. Everywhere in Accra, from a two-room operation to a well-equipped practice. Short waits, you pay, and quality varies enormously.

A private hospital. Nyaho, the Bank Hospital, Lister, Trust and others run outpatient clinics with GPs and specialists under one roof. The most convenient option if you can afford it.

A teaching hospital. Korle Bu, 37 Military, Ridge, UGMC. For complex problems and emergencies, not for a sore throat.

Hospitals and clinics in Accra

What it costs

A private GP consultation runs roughly ₵150 to ₵500, before tests or medicines. Tests and drugs are usually the larger part of the bill.

At a public facility with an active NHIS card, the consultation itself is covered. You may still be asked to buy medicines the facility does not have in stock — legal, common, and not a sign you are being cheated.

NHIS and health insurance

How to choose

  • Ask people who live near you. This is genuinely the best method in Accra. Colleagues, neighbours, your landlord.
  • Check the facility is accredited if you intend to use NHIS. Not every private clinic is.
  • Look for a doctor registered with the Medical and Dental Council. The register is public.
  • Judge on the second visit, not the first. Whether they remember you, whether they read the notes, whether they explain.

What to bring

  • Your Ghana Card and NHIS card
  • Your own records. Previous results, discharge summaries, a list of your medicines with doses. Continuity between Ghanaian facilities is not reliable, and the person holding the thread has to be you.
  • A phone with a note of your allergies, conditions and emergency contact
  • Money or mobile money for tests you did not expect

Keep a folder. Photograph every result. This is the single most useful habit for using Ghanaian healthcare well.

Making the consultation work

Consultations can be short. Prepare:

  1. Write down your questions before you go in.
  2. Say when it started and what has changed. Ghanaian doctors, like doctors everywhere, work from history.
  3. Ask what the diagnosis is, in words you understand.
  4. Ask what the medicine is for, how long to take it, and what to do if it does not work.
  5. Ask what would make you come back urgently. This is the question people forget and the one that matters most.
  6. Ask for the results, in writing or by photograph, and keep them.

If you need a specialist

Referral is normal, and in the private sector you can often book a specialist directly without one. Consultations start around ₵400.

Specialists in Accra

A word on self-medication

Ghanaian pharmacies will sell you a great deal without a prescription, including antibiotics. It is convenient, it is normal, and it is the main reason antimicrobial resistance is a growing problem here.

Get tested before treating. A malaria rapid test costs about ₵30 and takes fifteen minutes, and a fever in Accra is not automatically malaria.

Pharmacies and medicines Malaria and staying healthy