The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has raised alarms over the possible effects of predatory recruitment practices by high-income countries for nurses in Ghana and other African nations.

CEO of ICN, Howard Catton, in an address with the media, highlighted the severe consequences of this trend.

According to him, there has been a marked increase in the recruitment of nurses by countries that need to train more of their own.

“Ghana and a number of other African countries have been the target for recruitment. But the issue is that Ghana and some of these other countries already have fewer nurses per head of population than the countries who are doing the recruiting, have weaker healthcare systems, have high healthcare demand, and are in a poor position to lose their nurses. By losing their nurses, it has a negative impact on those countries' ability to improve their healthcare and their health system,” he said.

Catton emphasised the need for transparency in government-to-government recruitment agreements and called for fair compensation to Ghana for the loss of its trained nurses.

He pointed out that the cost of training a nurse in the UK is approximately $50,000, and with hundreds of nurses leaving Ghana each month, the financial impact is substantial.

“We just haven't seen the openness of those agreements to know what's in them. What compensation, what benefit does Ghana get if it is losing, as it is hundreds of nurses every month, it costs about 50,000 to train a nurse in the UK, so that's a saving for the UK of every hundred nurses of say 5 million.

“If four or five hundred nurses are leaving Ghana every month, which we believe there are, that's 50 million. That money is needed to go into the health system in Ghana to strengthen health care here for the people of Ghana,” he added.

To address the brain drain, Catton advocated for better pay and working conditions for nurses in Ghana.

He noted that poor career development opportunities, workplace violence, and lack of respect are pushing nurses to seek opportunities abroad.

“The bottom line is that you have to invest in better pay and working conditions for nurses who are in Ghana. We all need to live; we all need to put food and bread on the table. And if you can't afford to do that, if you go to work and you're subject to a lack of career development, if you're experiencing violence or harassment, you don't feel respected at work.

"So countries that are losing their nurses also have a major responsibility to do the best that they possibly can to improve the pay and working conditions of their own people, to retain them,” he added.

The ICN is collaborating with the World Health Organization and other international bodies to promote investment in nursing education and career development.

This includes enhancing nursing leadership and creating more opportunities for career advancement to ensure that nurses remain in their home countries.

ID/MA

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