Mr Abu Kuntulo, General Secretary of Health
Services Workers' Union (HSWU) has appealed to the Government to provide appreciable incentive packages to attract and retain medical personnel.
He said the continuing global shortage of more than four million health care workers indicated the crisis in healthcare in developing countries since majority of its medical experts migrate for greener pastures.
Mr Kuntulo made the appeal when addressing the opening session of the Migration and Women Health and Social Care Workers project in Ghana in Accra on Tuesday.
It was organised by Public Services International on the theme: "Building Trade Union Advocacy and Action for Workers on the Move."
Public Workers International (PSI) seeks to engage public sector unions in joint actions to promote the rights of all health workers particularly women, organise women migrant health workers into unions to better promote and protect their rights as well as strengthen the capacity of unions to meet their needs.
The project is the fourth phase of the extension of Public Services International Women and International Migration in the Health Sector
Project, which ended in 2009.
The current project focuses on Africa, the Arab Region and would include social care workers.
Mr Kuntulo said majority of social care workers were women and a significant proportion was migrant workers and stressed the need for more attention to be paid in the health sector to ensure that vulnerable persons did not suffer from the exodus.
He indicated that in the midst of the economic crisis when most sectors were laying-off workers, social care services continued to be in high demand and if the health sector was offered with the appreciable incentive the problem of exodus would reduce.
Dr Genevieve Gencianos, World PSI Co-ordinator on Migration of Women Health and Social Care Workers Project, said labour migration was a Trades Union issue and called for a more vigorous campaign to motivate, attract and
retain health workers.
She said about 200 million people worldwide lived and worked outside their countries of birth and attributed the problem to low incomes and
unattractive packages to workers.
Dr Gencianos said quality public service work was the foundation of quality services and expressed regret that there was no equitable
distribution of labour force in the world.
She noted that the continued shortage of health workers would not help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare said the Ministry would soon draw a strategy to streamline the exodus of health personnel seeking greener pastures outside the country.
He said migration was due to economic difficulties; therefore the Ministry would collaborate with PSI on how best to address the problem.