A key representative body of doctors in Ghana, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) continues to lament the devastating impact of the increased migration of Ghanaian nurses to pursue employment opportunities in the healthcare sectors of other nations.

GMA is unhappy about the trend and has therefore asked the government to swiftly take action, which includes urgently absorbing the teeming unemployed nurses in the country, to avert the trend.

Expressing displeasure over the situation, the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regional Chairman of the GMA, Dr Alex Egotey, bemoaned the high numbers of trained nurses who still remain at home “having no job to do.”

He, however, said that these health workers play an essential role in health delivery in the country, stressing that “the doctor cannot go to work without the nurse,” thereby, calling for urgent measures to be taken to address the matter.

He further said it was unfortunate and disheartening that many nurses had been in the house since 2019 without jobs, and appealed to the government to employ them.

“I do not blame the nurses who are traveling abroad because they also need to make a living. They must also do something to earn a decent living, so if there is an opportunity, they must go”, he said.

Data from the Ghana Registered Nurses' and Midwives' Association (GRNMA) says nearly 4,000 nurses left the country and emigrated to the West in 2022. It pegs the current emigration rate at about 500 every month.

The UK, Ireland, Australia, and Canada have become hotspots for the wave of Ghanaian health workers emigrating daily.

These countries are calling and Ghanaian nurses are answering loudly and leaving the shores of their motherland to seek better working conditions, flexible work schedules and better pay, leaving behind Ghana’s ailing health sector.

There still remains a huge number of communities that urgently need the services of these skilled workers, therefore, the situation is a huge threat to the country’s health sector.

Suggesting a solution to this, Dr Alex Egotey said: “In fact, these thousands of nurses cannot continue to stay in the home and overburden their parents. They also need to develop themselves and have a decent living. So, if we want the nurses to stay, then the government must give them jobs and improve the conditions of service as well.”

Source: The Independent Ghana| Jessie Ola-Morris