Parliament urges Finance Ministry to recruit idle health workers
The Health Committee of Parliament has appealed to the Ministry of Finance to urgently release funds to recruit thousands of unemployed health professionals across the country.
The Committee said nearly 1,000 doctors, more than 48,000 nurses, and thousands of pharmacists and allied health scientists remain at home despite acute staffing shortages in hospitals and health facilities nationwide.
The call follows a fact-finding visit by the Committee to two major health institutions, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on 3 September and the Greater Accra Regional Hospital on 4 September.
During the visits, management of the facilities highlighted how a lack of personnel was undermining the delivery of quality healthcare to Ghanaians.
The Chairman of the Committee, Dr Mark Kurt Nawaane, said the situation demands urgent government intervention.
He stressed that the bottleneck is not with the Ministry of Health but with the Ministry of Finance, which has yet to provide financial clearance for the recruitment of the professionals.
“We will continue to talk to the Minister of Finance, Dr Ato Forson. That problem is not with the Ministry of Health; it is with the Ministry of Finance, where we have about 1,000 doctors at home, over 48,000 nurses at home, 1,000 pharmacists at home and allied health scientists, who are also at home,” Dr Nawaane explained.
He stressed that increased spending on health is not only critical to improving service delivery but also makes economic sense.
“We will continue to work hard to ensure the Ministry of Finance understands that investment in health will yield about nine or ten times, and so we need to spend more on health,” Dr Nawaane added.
