Bright Simons, the vice president of IMANI Africa, has provided some clarification about claims that the government of the United Kingdom (UK) has prohibited the hiring of health professionals from Ghana and 53 other nations.

Simons claims that contrary to popular belief, Ghanaian healthcare professionals are still permitted to come to the UK, but that active recruitment from Ghana and the other countries on the list has been suspended by local recruitment firms.

The UK government red-listed recruitment from the 54 countries, according to the IMANI vice president, in a series of tweets sent out on April 10, 2023, because the World Health Organization (WHO) has been requiring it to do so since 2020.

He added that the WHO had placed Ghana on its safeguard list to prevent the requirement of health professions from the country because they are needed locally.

“Reports that the UK has now placed Ghana & Nigeria on a 'red list' of countries from which nurses, doctors & care workers cannot migrate to the UK to work is NOT correct. Rather, Ghana & Nigeria have been on a WHO Safeguard List barring 'active recruitment' since 2020.

“The List, based on WHO's 2010 Global Code of Practice, is voluntary. The UK has been lax in enforcement despite domesticating the code. WHO reaffirmed the list in Jan 2023 & pressure from UK health unions increased on the UK to comply & stop recruiting from Red List countries.

“The List, based on WHO's 2010 Global Code of Practice, is voluntary. The UK has been lax in enforcement despite domesticating the code. WHO reaffirmed the list in Jan 2023 & pressure from UK health unions increased on the UK to comply & stop recruiting from Red List countries.

“Red List Health Workers themselves are not barred from migrating. But their "active recruitment" is barred. What this means is that employment agencies must not seek to attract health workers from such countries. The issue is that many intending migrants rely on such agencies,” parts of the tweets he shared read.

1/Reports that the UK has *now* placed Ghana & Nigeria on a "red list" of countries from which nurses, doctors & care workers cannot migrate to the UK to work is NOT correct. Rather, Ghana & Nigeria have been on a WHO Safeguard List barring "active recruitment" since 2020. pic.twitter.com/SNbxXzTS2D— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) April 10, 2023

3/Red List Health Workers themselves are not barred from migrating. But their "active recruitment" is barred. What this means is that employment agencies must not seek to attract health workers from such countries. The issue is that many intending migrants rely on such agencies.— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) April 10, 2023

In a statement, the National Health Service (NHS) of the UK stated that the listed nations have a UHC Service Coverage Index below 50 and a doctor, nurse, and midwives density below the worldwide median (48.6 per 10,000 population).

The list doesn't stop specific health and social care workers from applying on their own initiative and without being targeted by a third party, like a recruitment agency or employer, to health and social care employers for employment in the UK. This is known as a direct application.

The countries placed on the red list of ‘No active recruitment’ under the code are Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia.

The rest are Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Federated States of Micronesia, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Republic of Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.