The Ghana Health Service has disclosed that over the past three years, a substantial total of 3,688 healthcare professionals have departed the nation in pursuit of better opportunities abroad. The Ghana Health Service says the figure comprises both skilled practitioners and essential caregivers.
Departing healthcare workers have cited unfavorable working conditions in Ghana as a primary motivation for abandoning their roles in search of more promising prospects overseas.
In response to this alarming trend, the Ghana Health Service has taken some proactive measures. Since 2021, it has revamped and doubled the study leave allocations for nurses, with hopes to mitigate the workforce deficit. The service anticipates that, by the middle of the upcoming year, a significant number of these nurses who took advantage of the enhanced study leave provisions would have acquired the qualifications needed to address the existing gaps.
But the Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, while debating on the Health Ministry’s 2024 budget, said the government must consider an increment in remuneration to deal with the trend.
“Mr. Speaker, I think that we should look at the remuneration [of nurses]. If we look at the compensation, it was over and above what was allocated and if people have left, the compensation should then climb up. We should do a proper audit of the nurses who have left to know the deficit and should be able to employ to replace those who have exited.”
