In an event hosted by the Global Health Workforce Programme (GHWP) in Accra, the President of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), Perpetual Ofori Ampofo, and other stakeholders have urged government to expedite processes to implement its rural incentives policy for nurses and midwives who work in rural areas.
During the event, it was revealed by the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GNRMMA) that since January 2024, 732 nurses and midwives have left the country to seek greener pastures. It also recounted that most of the healthcare professionals who remain in the country also refuse to work in the rural areas. At the event, the stakeholders urged government to expedite implementation of the “Rural Incentive Package”, which was completed and submitted to the previous government.
Addressing the level of succession the programme had reached to be implemented, Perpetual Ofori Ampofo stated, “As far as I’m concerned, it was a brilliant job that was done. With a lot of technical support from the WHO and we came out with brilliant packages that could be offered as incentive packages for those who will accept to work in rural areas, and so we have to all follow up. And there is a general concern so I expect that the partners here will collectively push now that we have a new government, to package it now and submit it to cabinet through the Ministry of Health.”
Although information obtained at the event suggests that the Ministry of Health has placed the incentive on its action plan, to validate the truly deprived districts suited for the programme, the President of GRNMA mentioned that there was no need for validation.
“We are being told that the Ministry of Health still wants to do some validation of which area qualifies as undeserved, rural or deprived, but as far as I’m concerned, during the technical work, we were able to thrash out all these things, because a lot of work has been done with the Ghana Health Service,” he said.
The aim of the Rural Incentive Package is to encourage, attract and retain healthcare professionals in deprived areas. The policy it is yet to be implemented and healthcare professionals continue to exit the country, as they reject going to the rural areas to work. The incentive seeks to address issues such as poor working conditions, subpar salaries, lack of respect for healthcare professionals and lack of incentives to attract and retain healthcare professionals, especially doctors, midwives and nurses.
According to reports, Ghana has one of the highest migration rates of healthcare workers within the sub-Saharan Africa. Now, over 50% of doctors and 24% of trained nurses are working overseas.
Source: Dehotpress
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