Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh

Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Minister of Health, has revealed that there are in excess of 70,000 qualified health professionals looking for work in various health sectors, significantly above the 30,000 previously stated.

In his speech to Parliament, Mr Akandoh gave a thorough analysis of the data, emphasizing the extent of unemployment among physicians, nurses, allied health workers, and pharmacists.

According to him, there are 48,878 unemployed nurses.

From the 2021 batch, 15,947; from the 2022 batch, 17,176; and from the 2023 batch, 15,755.

The Minister pointed out that although almost 15,000 nurses were hired and given financial approval in December 2024, their official payroll placement is still pending.

Additionally, Mr Akandoh disclosed that since 2019, allied health professionals have not received financial clearance, which has resulted in 21,570 of them being unemployed. In a similar vein, 1,621 pharmacists are unemployed and no pharmacist recruitments have taken place since 2019.

The Minister mentioned that over 900 skilled medical professionals are still looking for work and are awaiting placement. The Ministry has started recruiting them, he revealed.

“The problem is, therefore, enormous,” Mr Akandoh admitted. “But we are committed to finding solutions to it,” the Minister is quoted by graphic.com.gh as saying.

The Minister stated that the government is investigating "managed migration" as a short-term solution to alleviate the strain as part of larger initiatives to address the unemployment issue.

He revealed that more than 13 nations have formally indicated interest in hiring Ghanaian nurses and other medical personnel with the necessary qualifications.

Mr Akandoh reiterated the Ministry's dedication to obtaining domestic and foreign possibilities to lower the backlog of jobless professionals and enhance the provision of health services throughout the nation.

KA