The Ghana Health Service (GHS), has expressed worry about the growing number of nurses leaving the country to work in high-income nations, leading to concerns about a brain drain and its impact on Ghana’s healthcare system.

Expressing the frustrations of the Service at a capacity-building programme for the first batch of newly posted hospital administrators in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Emmanuel Tenkroang, said Ghana’s health system is struggling due to the loss of specialist nurses who seek better-paid jobs overseas, adding that the situation requires immediate intervention by the government.

Data from the Ghana Registered Nurses’ and Midwives’ Association reveals that nearly four thousand nurses left the country to seek better-paid jobs overseas in 2022. The migration came after high-income countries began recruiting nurses across the African continent to fill vacancies within their health sectors.

Speaking at a capacity-building programme for newly appointed hospital administrators under the Ghana Health Service in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional Director of Health Service, Dr. Emmanuel Tenkrong said Ghana’s health system is struggling due to the loss of specialist nurses who seek better-paid jobs overseas, adding that the situation requires immediate intervention by the government.

The Deputy Director-General of the Service, Dr. Anthony Adofo Ofosu, advised the administrators to help improve access to quality care to enable the country to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3, which is the provision of universal health coverage for all.

The Director of the Health Administration and Support Services at the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Ebo Hammond, charged the newly posted health administrators to imbibe the values and principles of the health service profession in the discharge of their mandatory duties.

The 93 new hospital administrators form the first batch appointed to direct, supervise, and evaluate the work activities of medical, nursing, technical, clerical, service, maintenance, and other staff activities.

In addition, they are to plan, implement, and administer programmes and services, including human resource administration, training, and coordination of medical, nursing, and physical plant staff across the various public hospitals in Ghana.