The Health Minister, Mintah Akandoh’s warning to remove doctors from government payroll over their refusal to show up at their stations following the nationwide postings some late last year.

However, according to a Labour Expert at the Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation, Peter Bismark Kwofie,while the Minister’s move is constitutionally permissible, he described it as unethical, urging the Minister to first address the root cause of doctors refusal to to show up at their respective posts.

“While the government, as an employer, has the legal authority to withdraw a doctor’s name from a posting list if the individual refuses the assignment, it is ethically problematic to remove them from the payroll without first addressing the concerns that may have informed their decision.”

He further detailed that, a doctor refusing a posting may not necessarily amount to indiscipline or disregard for rules but are mostly traced to legitimate and genuine concerns which remain unresolved over the years.

“There could be legitimate and genuine reasons why a doctor may decline a posting. These may include concerns about workplace safety, lack of accommodation, inadequate essential facilities, or the absence of the technology required to deliver quality healthcare,” he explained.

Consequently, Mr. Kwofie further argued that threatening dismissal under such circumstances could be unfair.

“If the issues raised relate to basic working conditions and professional requirements not being met, then it becomes unethical to threaten removal from the payroll. These are structural issues that must be resolved to ensure effective healthcare delivery,” he added.

He also highlighted the importance of providing safe and enabling working environments, particularly in rural areas.

“Matters such as security, network connectivity, decent accommodation, and a conducive working environment are not luxuries; they are necessities. The government must prioritise these if it expects doctors to accept postings willingly,” he emphasized.

Mr Kwofie’s remarks come after the Health Minister charged doctors who are yet to turn up at their respective posting areas(mainly rural areas) that they have until the end of February to do so or risks having their names removed from government’s payroll.

“I think we must put our heads together to find a solution to this problem. I agree that there are genuine concerns, but our education is highly subsidised, even for fee-paying students. So if the cocoa-producing farmers in my constituency, Sefwi Antobea, have been used to fund your education and you come and tell me that the place is a village, then I beg to differ,” he said.

He further announced that a validation exercise would be conducted at the end of February.

GHS stats on doctors who had reported in 2025

In early November, the Health Ministry announced the allocation of doctors nationwide, with about 80% of the earmarked for district health facilities.

Fast forward to November 5, Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh revealed that his outfit was processing about 700 junior medical doctors for posting.

According to the statutes of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), newly posted medical officers are generally expected to report to their assigned health facility within two weeks of receiving their posting letter.

However, a recent report dated November 28 released by the health authority shows that about 70% of the newly posted doctors have yet to report to their new posts.

An overwhelming 305 doctors, or 66%, have still not shown up. This means that 7 out of 10 doctors failed to report to their assigned regions.

According to the data, urban facilities in Greater Accra and Kumasi, as well as the Eastern Region, recorded the highest turnout, with many doctors reporting to their posts, representing over 60% of the total turnout, to the neglect of rural centres. Several health centres in rural areas still waited in hopes of the appearance of medical officers deployed to their districts.

Out of the 20 medical officers allocated to Greater Accra, 16 had reported, with only four left to show up, representing an 80 percent turnout. In the Ashanti Region, there were 33 allocations, and so far, 25 had reported, representing a 76 percent turnout. Also, of the 36 allocations to the Eastern Region, 23 had reported, representing a 64 percent turnout.

On the other hand, regions in the North recorded an abysmal turnout. The North East Region recorded zero turnout after an allocation of 19 medical officers. The Upper West Region also had no reports despite an allocation of 32. Oti, with 21 allocations, saw only one officer report (4.8%). Western North recorded two out of 31, representing a 6.5% turnout, and Savannah had seven officers report out of 19 allocated, representing a 36.8% turnout. In other low-performing regions, the Upper East recorded seven reports out of 35 allocations, representing a 20% turnout, while the Northern Region saw seven out of 32 officers report, representing a 21.9% turnout.

Reacting to this, Health Minister Mintah Akandoh, at a press briefing on Tuesday, December 2, explained that most often, it was reported that medical officers posted to rural centres appealed to be reassigned to the cities due to the lack of adequate infrastructure, medical facilities, and equipment, among other challenges that made postings to these areas unattractive to them.

Addressing the issue, the Minister explicitly stated that this time, no changes would be made to any posting. He said, “After which, we will do what we call validation. Unfortunately, there is no way we can do anything here, unfortunately.”

He continued that discussions were already underway with the respective authorities in their districts to ensure their smooth stay and help them offer excellent medical services to the people.

“And so we will give them one more week to report while we are also engaging the stakeholders in their respective districts, DCEs, Regional Ministers, Chiefs, and Members of Parliament (MPs), to facilitate their stay in their districts to be able to give their best. We have started that by engaging them myself. The government will also look at how we can incentivise them to give their best. I believe our doctors will respond to this call,” he mentioned.