According to the Ghana Health Service, 3,688 health staff have left the nation in the previous three years to seek better pastures.
According to the Ghana Health Service, the statistic includes professional and critical caregivers.
Some health professionals who have left the nation have cited bad working circumstances in Ghana as the reason for departing for better pastures elsewhere.
As part of its efforts to address the worrying concern, the Ghana Health Service announced that it has revised and doubled study leave for unprofessional nurses as far back as 2021, with the expectation that by the middle of next year, the majority of these unprofessional nurses who took advantage will have qualified to fill the gap created.
However, during a debate on the Health Ministry’s 2024 budget, the Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, stated that the government must consider an increase in salary 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.”