4,000 nurses left Ghana between January and July this year – GRNMA reveals
General Secretary of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) Dr David Tenkorang-Twum has disclosed that about 10,209 nurses between January 01, and July 07, 2023, sought clearance with the GRNMA Secretariat to leave the country for greener pastures.
Out of that total number, about 4,000 nurses were cleared and have already traveled, working overseas as nurses.
Many nurses have vacated their posts and traveled for greener pastures in the last few years.
According to him, the exodus of professional nurses is affecting the health sector as the most experienced ones, capable of handling serious health issues and mentoring young nurses are those resigning from their posts.
Dr. David Tenkorang-Twum said the situation is leading to staff shortage, with pressure on the few remaining staff.
“Nursing care is a continuum, and if people who are to relieve you have traveled out, it tells one to put in little more hours, which will create issues of work overload”.
“Somebody who has practiced for several years has considerable competencies and experience that we have to count on”, Dr. David Tenkorang-Twum said in an interview monitored by The Ghana Report with the Ghana News Agency.
“There’s going to be a gap between the newly qualified and the very old because those who have served up to 10 years are leaving, so who is there to mentor the new ones that are coming?”
He attributed the situation to the harsh economic conditions in the country, saying: “The only thing that can resolve this matter is to improve the service conditions of nurses and what comes to mind is our premium …”
The General Secretary stated that the delay in employing fresh graduates was another issue of concern, adding that fresh graduates would be tempted to migrate or find other profitable jobs when not given clearance and immediate employment.
“If we employ them as quickly as possible and engage them as soon as they complete their course or service, that temptation to migrate will be minimized. Even if some will leave, only a few people will leave,” he explained.
Another professional in the health sector who spoke on the mass movement of the nurses overseas was Dr. Justice Yankson, Vice President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), who urged the government to improve the working conditions of health professionals to attract more of them to stay and work for the country.
He said quality healthcare delivery would be compromised if no intervention is put in place to address the menace.
Howard Catton, the Head of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) in the UK in an interview with BBC earlier this year also affirmed that many specialist nurses have left the West African country for better-paid jobs overseas with over 1,200 Ghanaian nurses joining the UK’s nursing register in 2022.