The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has disclosed that a total of 3,688 healthcare professionals have emigrated in the past three years in search of better opportunities abroad.
This exodus includes both professional and critical caregivers.
Some of these departing health professionals cite unfavorable working conditions in Ghana as the primary reason for leaving their posts in pursuit of more favorable prospects overseas.
In response to the growing concern, the Ghana Health Service has implemented measures to address the issue.
In 2021, they revised and doubled study leave for unprofessional nurses.
The service expects that by the middle of the next year, many of these nurses taking advantage of the initiative will have qualified to fill the resulting staffing gap.
However, during the parliamentary debate on the Health Ministry’s 2024 budget, Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu suggested that the government should consider increasing remuneration to counteract this trend.
In his words, “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.”