The Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has announced that the country’s health budget currently allows for the employment of 127,000 health workers in state-owned health facilities. 

He said that, according to the Health Labour Market analysis, the figure is projected to rise to 147,000 by 2030 if no changes are made. Adding that, it is less than half of what the country needed.

“To meet Ghana’s health needs and achieve at least 80 per cent coverage under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC), we will need over 367,000 health workers — and that number could rise to nearly half a million by 2030,” he said.

Mr Akandoh added that, “Health Labour Market analysis estimates that it would take around $9.8 billion between now and 2030 to meet our workforce targets through both employment and training”.

The minister was speaking at the National Policy Dialogue on the Health Workforce in Ghana organised by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Accra last Wednesday.

The event, which was attended by directors and officials in the health sector, was on the theme “Transforming Ghana’s Health Workforce for UHC: Align, Invest, and Sustain”. 

Crisis

Mr Akandoh asserted that although the country had made progress over the years in training and expanding the health workforce, the numbers paint a sobering picture and a complex market crisis that demands bold, practical and coordinated action.

He stated that there was a clear mismatch between the number of people the country was training and the jobs available, adding that even where jobs exist, the country was struggling to retain talent, especially in the face of international migration and better wages elsewhere. 

The minister affirmed that, “between 2013 and 2022, the density of health workers in the public sector has nearly tripled – moving from 16.56 to 41.92 per 10,000 population”.

He added that with the inclusion of both employed and unemployed professionals, the total density of doctors, nurses and midwives reaches 82.75 per 10,000 — far exceeding the total benchmark of 22.8 required to ensure 80 per cent skilled birth attendance.

Migration

Mr Akandoh said the government had commenced the process of leading a partnership with other countries in need of health workers to facilitate their migration to work in those countries.

He said data showed that nearly two out of three health workers were considering leaving the country due to better economic opportunities that came with the average wage abroad standing at GH?10,000 compared to Ghana’s GH?2,813.

He explained that, “between 2020 and 2022, the number of nurses seeking verification to migrate increased by 232 per cent; while in just the first half of 2023, over 5,000 nurses sought to do the same”. 

Investment

For his part, the Country Representative of the WHO, Dr Frank Lule, urged the government and policy makers to invest in the health workforce as it was critical to achieving UHC and improving health outcomes.

He affirmed that “investing in the health workforce was not a choice but a need if Ghana would achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UHC goals.

We must see spending on the health workforce as an investment to be nurtured and not a cost to be contained”.