Vice President, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia has announced that some 32,000 health professionals will be recruited this year [2018] to fill vacancies within the health sector.
Speaking at a graduation parade of the Special Medical intake at the Ghana Military Academy, Dr Bawumia said government recognizes the challenges within the health sector and plans to deal with it.
“Our health needs are as important to our survival as our safety and security needs. We cannot afford to compromise on the health needs of our citizens. It is for this reason that government intends to employ about 32,000 health professionals this year across the country.”
The Vice President had earlier said the government would recruit up to 10,000 unemployed nurses and health assistants through the Nation Builders’ Corps which will be launched on May 1, 2018.
He said the government is working with the Ministry of Health to recruit the many health professionals who have completed their professional training but have been left idle for several months.
He said the nurses would be posted to serve in various communities that are without professional health workers.
“We also are very cognizant of the importance of making sure there is adequate staffing of the medical facilities. We have 7 modules for the national builders’ corps and one of the modules is the health module. We have quite a number of nurses and health assistants who are sitting at home. They’ve qualified for years and they have not been engaged,” he said.
“We have engaged the GHS and we will be prepared to recruit up to 10,000 nurses and health assistants to be part of the nation builders’ corps to have contracts of up to 3 years so that we can post them to areas where they are needed,” he added.
Jobless nurses in Ghana
Thousands of professionally trained nurses and health assistants have staged various protests in the country over their unemployment several years and months after completion of their training.
Although the Ministry of Health has given assurances that they will be employed, very few have been employed.
Most of them are still at home unemployed because their bonds require them to serve in the public health sector before private health facilities can later employ them.
Bonded unemployed nurses, midwives protest over delayed posting
Some frustrated bonded unemployed nurses and midwives recently demonstrated in Tamale over government’s failure to post them.
The licensed health professionals say they can no longer tolerate government’s assurances, hence the street protest.
They have thus given the government a two-week ultimatum to address their concern or else they will picket at the Ministry of Health and the Jubilee House.
Source: citi
