The Ministry of Health has recruited and posted 4,799 nurses who graduated in 2014 and 2015 to various health facilities in Ghana.

The number includes psychiatry nurses, enrolled nurses, community nurses and midwives, a statement issued by the Ministry of Health and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Monday said.

Statistics from the Nursing and Midwifery Council gave the breakdown as follows: 1,268 registered midwives; 56 registered community nurses, 507 registered general nurses (Psychiatry); 321health assistants clinical; 2,389 registered general nurses; and 258 community health nurses.

The statement said Mr Alex Segbefia, the Minister of Health, gave the statistics when he attended a Public Sensitisation Forum in Ho to help upgrade the Regional Hospital into a Teaching Hospital.

He, however, directed all facilities to ensure that staff to be engaged had their documents processed on time.

“All facilities are to ensure that staffs to be engaged have their documents processed early and placed on the Mechanised Payroll to enable the Controller and Accountant General to effect payment of their salaries on time. This will reduce the incidence of arrears paid to staff,” he said.

The Ministry, he said, was in talks with the Ministry of Finance to secure additional financial clearance which would help engage nurses from private training institutions and other graduate nurses across the country.

Mr Segbefia assured trained nurses and those in school of employment by the Ministry of Health as government had initiated numerous health projects throughout the country.

He mentioned the construction of the seven district hospitals under the NMS Built to Care programme, eight district hospitals project by Euroget, the Ridge Hospital expansion project, and the Legon Teaching Hospital project.

Other on-going projects are the Upper West and East regional hospital projects, the Military Hospital project in Kumasi and the 1,000 Community Health and Planning Services (CHPS) compounds.

Mr Segbefia said as from 2017 all nurses undergoing training would be employed in those facilities to deliver quality healthcare to the people.

He said due to the increased numbers of new trainees and incentives, many nurses were willing to be employed by the Ministry of Health and be posted to any health facility nationwide.

He said government, with the support of its development partners, had constructed and inaugurated many CHPS compounds throughout Ghana.

CHPS compounds are the basic unit of health care delivery systems in Ghana. Nurses are expected to be posted to these facilities to take care of the health needs of communities to address the Sustainable Development Goals.