The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has revealed that just within the past three years, a total of 3,688 Ghanaian health practitioners have left the country to seek better work conditions.
Health professionals have always cited poor working conditions namely; poor remuneration and lack of infrastructures and adequate working equipment as basis for leaving the country.
Once again, the total number of those who have left include professionals and critical caregivers.
Many experts have warned the government about the possible ensnaring danger of the trend given that the country’s nurse to patient ratio was already alarming.
The trend persists despite GHS’ indication that it has improved the study-leave scheme for unprofessional health workers since 2021. This, the institution hoped would have attracted unprofessional health workers to make up for the losses.
Meanwhile, the Majority caucus Leader, Osei-Kyei Mensah Bonsu has recommended that the government carry out a “proper audit” of the nurses who have left so as to know the deficit and the number to employ to fill the gap. He also suggested an increment in remuneration to control the trend.
“Mr. Speaker, I think that we should look at the remuneration. If we look at the compensation, it was over and above what was allocated and if people have left, the compensation should then climb up. We should do a proper audit of the nurses who have left to know the deficit and should be able to employ to replace those who have exited,” he said.
Following the seemingly uncontrollable nature of health practitioners trouping out of the country over concerns of poor working conditions, the government of Ghana went into an agreement with the UK government such that the government of Ghana rakes in some benefits from the trend.
However, experts say the trend could spell doom for the country in terms of health, given that the West African country needs its health workers the more.
But health practitioners continue leaving the country on a large scale, as they lament government’s little effort in curbing the situation.
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