Education Minister orders urgent review of doctors’ pay disparities
By Praisebell Rosemond Larbi
The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has directed the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to urgently review and address the long-standing salary disparities between medical doctors in academia and their counterparts under the Ghana Health Service (GHS).
Describing the pay gap as an unfair labour practice, Mr Iddrisu said the imbalance must be corrected to promote equity and fairness across the public service.
Speaking at the 50th Anniversary Grand Durbar of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) School of Medical Sciences, the Minister said he became aware of the issue after being briefed by the Dean of the School on the widening pay differences between academic doctors and those in clinical service.
“The Dean of Medical Sciences made me appreciate the disparity and salary gaps or conditions of service between doctors in the Ghana Health Service and doctors at the Ministry of Education. I hurriedly and quickly called the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, and I have asked them to evaluate and close the gap and the difference in a manner that is fair and respectful,” Mr Iddrisu stated.
The directive follows concerns raised by Professor Akwasi Antwi-Kusi, Dean of the KNUST School of Medical Sciences, who highlighted that the growing salary gap was discouraging young doctors from joining academia as lecturers and researchers.
“Part of the unattractiveness to join faculty is because of the disparity in salary between doctors in the Ministry of Health and doctors in academia. If you are in the Ministry of Health, your salary is up there; if you are in the Ministry of Education, it is down there,” Prof Antwi-Kusi bemoaned.
“Because of that, our young doctors do not want to join the medical school as lecturers. The salary gap is about 30 to 50 per cent of the take-home pay. I call on the CEO of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to help bridge this gap,” he stated.
Prof Antwi-Kusi also underscored the need for increased investment in health education to meet future demands.
“This celebration reminds us that the future demands more. The scale and complexity of today’s health challenges require greater investment in infrastructure, technology, teaching and human resources,” he stressed.
Mr Iddrisu reaffirmed the government’s commitment to ensuring fairness in public sector compensation, emphasising that health education remains central to Ghana’s human capital development agenda.
