The Ministry of Health has disclosed that 6,245 nurses and midwives have been recruited out of 6,500 vacancies under a nationwide recruitment exercise aimed at boosting primary healthcare services across the country, particularly in underserved communities.
The initiative forms part of the government’s free primary healthcare agenda, which focuses on deploying trained professionals to health facilities experiencing severe staffing shortages to improve healthcare access and delivery.
According to the Ministry, financial clearance was granted by the Ministry of Finance for the recruitment of about 8,000 health professionals, despite the country’s growing backlog of approximately 105,000 qualified but unemployed health workers.
Beyond the nurses and midwives, the recruitment exercise also saw the employment of 771 allied health professionals out of 900 slots, 235 pharmacy professionals out of 250 positions, as well as 300 physician assistants.
Speaking at a media briefing in Accra, the Ministry’s Director of Human Resources, Frederick Mensah-Acheampong, noted that while 87 nursing positions in some Northern districts remain vacant, the recruitment process attracted intense competition because of the high number of qualified applicants.
He stressed that the exercise is in line with the government’s Primary Healthcare policy, which emphasises preventive healthcare, community-based services, and expanding quality healthcare delivery in deprived communities.
“We have received financial clearance to recruit about 8,000 health professionals from the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry is aware of the anxiety surrounding these recruitment exercises, particularly because about 105,000 qualified health professionals remain unemployed, with some waiting for recruitment since 2018 and 2019,” he said.
Mensah-Acheampong added that the Ministry will soon undertake a mop-up exercise to give eligible applicants who could not complete the process another opportunity to be considered.
