Both organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday, January 10, to remove barriers confronting Ghanaian nurses in the execution of their duties in order to encourage the return of skilled nurses to contribute to Ghana’s healthcare system.

Under the agreement, returning nurses are expected to be exempted from entrance exams, streamlining the registration process.

Mrs. Philomena Woolley, Acting Registrar of the Nurses and Midwifery Council, emphasized the collaboration’s significance for second-generation nurses and those trained abroad, promoting their registration with the NMC Ghana.

Mrs. Woolley highlighted the collaborative benefits, emphasizing the expertise these returning nurses bring and expecting to welcome over 1,000 nurses.

“The Nurses and Midwifery Council (NMC) Ghana signed an MoU with the Ghanaian Diaspora Nursing Alliance (G-DNA), and basically, this MoU is about collaboration for especially second-generation nurses and the nurses who were not even trained here [in Ghana] to come back and register with the Nurses and Midwifery Council (NMC) Ghana and what we seek to gain is the expertise they have acquired and we are expecting more than 1,000 nurses to join.”

The collaboration aims to reduce stringent registration requirements, acknowledging the valuable contribution of Ghanaian nurses worldwide.

Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, president and co-founder of G-DNA also stressed the aim of easing barriers for returning nurses, addressing the annual healthcare challenge posed by Ghanaian nurses leaving the country.

“The issue of ethical migration and recruitment is a priority of the Ghanaian Diaspora Nursing Alliance and we had a round table discussion on August 19, 2023 and we had the Ministry of Health, the Nurses and Midwifery Council, the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, and also the International Council on Nursing to talk about this issue of ethical migration of nurses to understand the factors contributing to the migration of nurses and we learnt a lot of lessons.

“People often think that people just want to leave because they want to make more money but we learnt that is not only the issue. The other issue is that there are nurses who are working in environments that don’t protect them; there are nurses who are working without gloves, there are nurses who work hours without fair compensation, so all those issues need to be addressed comprehensively if we need to address this issue of nurses migrating from Ghana.”

The collaboration spans research, evidence-based practices, and capacity building, with G-DNA’s commitment to supporting nursing education in Ghana through fundraising and grants.

The two-year MoU also aims to inform and incentivize foreign-trained Ghanaian nurses to contribute to training institutions, universities, health centres, and research initiatives.

This collaboration not only facilitates the return of skilled nurses but also positions the NMC to adopt best practices and stay abreast of new trends in healthcare delivery.