As 1200 nurses leave Ghana to UK in 2022, Health Minister appeals for donor funding
Ghana’s health system is under pressure, as droves of trained healthcare professionals, particularly nurses are leaving the country to work abroad.
According to a BBC report, some 1200 nurses left Ghana to work in the UK in 2022, and their departure is being felt in the health system in Ghana. The report found that the departure of the nurses has created shortages in hospitals across the country, and as a result patients are dying.
Among other reasons, the nurses are leaving Ghana because of poor working conditions such as lack of equipment and resources to work with as well as poor pay. The country’s economy is also in distress with inflation above 40 per cent, the cost of living has also skyrocketed.
The CEO of the International Council of Nurses, Howard Catton told the BBC that migration from countries such as Ghana is in danger of getting out of control.
In Ghana and 54 other countries of the world active recruitment of nurses is banned under World Health Organization rules.
Meanwhile, the sector minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has been calling for donor support for the Ministry of Health.
The minister appealed to donors to support the health ministry carry out its mandates while speaking at the opening of the 2023 Annual Health Summit. He said currently donor support for the ministry was zero per cent.
According to him, the proportion of the overall budget contributed by the government for the health sector had remained relatively stable since 2017, hovering between 59 per cent and 62 per cent except in 2021, where it reached 64 per cent.
He noted that donor funding had however been less stable, it reached 17 per cent of the total budget for the health sector in 2017 before falling to just six per cent of the budget in 2020 after which it rebounded to 12 per cent in 2022.
By Emmanuel K Dogbevi
Copyright ©2023 by NewsBridge Africa.
All rights reserved. This news item or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in reviews.