A Communication team member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alhaji Naziru Mohammed has referred to the government’s Agenda 111 initiative as a ‘working iniquity to achieve vanity’.

Alhaji Naziru’s comment is on the back of the current exodus of healthcare professionals from the country.

He was speaking on Accra-based UTV.

According to him, it is alarming that the number of doctors and nurses leaving Ghana is high and rampant due to the government's alleged inability to provide adequate compensation.

“Today, when I am asked about Agenda 111, where has it gotten to, what is happening in that sector, and what are we going to get from it, then I say it’s much I do about nothing; working iniquity to achieve vanity.

“The reason why I am saying all this is that they say every month about 500 doctors leave the country because the government is not able to pay them. They also say in every month, about 1000 nurses leave the country” he said.

He claimed that approximately 500 doctors and 1,000 nurses depart the country each month, with the United Kingdom alone documenting the arrival of around 1,500 Ghanaian nurses in recent days.

“In the UK alone those who have been documented to nurses from Ghana alone is about 1500. When you come to Ghana, 1 nurse caters for about 850 patients, just one nurse and more are leaving the country,” he continued.

Alhaji Mohammed further criticized the government for failing to address the issue, pointing out that the nurses they referred to in 2016 are employed in state-of-the-art hospitals built by the former president.

He added that these nurses are now seeking opportunities abroad.

“I am raising the point that there is a government who told John Dramani Mahama that because he wasn’t able to pay the nurses, he [John Mahama] does not think about the development of the country. That government is in power today and the nurses they referred to are working in the state-of-the-art hospitals scattered across the country. We did all these for the people to get work to do.

“But with this government, we have built the hospitals, just pay the nurses to work you have failed and they are running away. You have governed a country backwards to the 1083 period when teachers, doctors and other professionals were leaving the country,” the NDC communicator continued.

The NDC communicator highlighted the continuous mass departure of these health professionals from the country and questioned the government's priorities considering this ongoing trend.

To him, the government must fix the ongoing mass departure of the health sector workers and not Agenda 111.

“People are leaving the country daily and you are talking about Agenda 111.

“Who told us that a government who is not about pay people its owed, can manage Agenda 111”, Alhaji Naziru Mohammed.

NW/WA



Watch the latest episode of The Lowdown:





In the meantime, watch the latest episode of #SayItLoud on GhanaWeb TV with Etsey Atisu below:





Share your news stories and ideas with GhanaWeb


To advertise with GhanaWeb