Most Ghanaian Health workers are still leaving the country for the United Kingdom and other countries to practice their healthcare profession in spite of the UK’s red list for health workers’ recruitment in 53 countries including Ghana.
This has attracted many criticisms and condemnation from well-meaning Ghanaians who say such a move by these health workers will impact negatively the Nation’s health care delivery system.
The UK government in its revised code of practice for international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England which was published on the National Health Service (NHS) website has included Ghana, Cameroon, and other 54 countries that actively will not be targeted for recruitment of health and other social care workers.
In response to the criticisms, the General Secretary of Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMS), Dr. David Tenkorang says most health workers are not heeding this red list by the UK government due to the poor conditions of services of health workers in Ghana.
According to him, nurses who enter health service to render care at primary health care areas like the chip compound, and the health centers do most of the activities but don’t take anything beyond GHc1, 000.
“We are not happy our people are leaving and some of us are here but the reason they are leaving is not farfetched. We sent that signal to government that our service conditions are very poor, very abysmal, and very terrible… It’s unfortunate. I bleed as a lecturer; my salary is nothing to write home about. What about that poor young nurse? Assuming he is a male and has a family to feed?”, he bemoaned during an interview with 3news.
Touching on allowances, Dr. David Tenkorang indicated that health workers are not benefitting from vital allowances due them in spite of the many attempts made by the leadership of GRNMS to get the government to include health workers on certain allowances.
Dr. David Tenkorang further revealed that a ban has been placed on the sales of clearance to health workers by the health ministry since 1st November 2022 which he says is illegal and called for its removal.
He says it is fundamentally flawed because it is not all who want to leave this country but also on account of schooling and marital reunion.
He says about 500 people have already left the country and continue to leave and therefore called on the Ministry of Health to find innovative ways to retain them in the country.
To him, the only way out is to improve the service condition.
Source: Eric Sekyi/ATLFMNEWS
