Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has admitted that the government cannot fulfil the expectation of employing all 74,000 health professionals by the year 2026.
Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme, the Minister said while it remains the President’s broader ambition to expand job opportunities, including for unemployed graduates, the claim that all unemployed health professionals will be absorbed into the system within the next year is “simply untrue”.
“The assurance is that it is the President’s ambition to create more opportunities for everyone, including unemployed graduates,” Mr Akandoh said. “However, to claim that all 74,000 health professionals will be employed by 2026 is simply untrue.”
He added that although the government is committed to improving employment within the health sector, the scale of the task means it cannot be achieved overnight.
“It will be very difficult and that is the truth but we will work towards it gradually,” he explained.
To address the challenge, the Health Minister said the government would explore a combination of solutions, including managed migration and partnerships with foreign health systems to export trained personnel.
“We will look at managed migration, export some professionals, and the government will try to devise ways to gradually employ others,” he said.
The Minister emphasised that the issue requires a realistic and phased approach, acknowledging the difficulty of balancing budget constraints with growing demands for jobs in the health sector.
Background
In recent times, Ghana’s healthcare system has faced significant disruptions due to industrial action and protests by nurses and midwives over poor working conditions and delayed payments.
In June 2025, the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) launched a nationwide strike beginning on June 2. The strike was prompted by delays in the implementation of their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which outlined improved conditions of service including fuel, medical, and rural posting allowances.
The situation escalated dramatically by June 9, as nurses and midwives across the country fully withdrew their services. This forced the closure of key hospital departments and severely affected both outpatient and emergency care in several major health facilities.
In response to the growing crisis, the Ministry of Health and other government bodies appealed to retired health professionals to step in and assist temporarily.
After intense negotiations and a meeting with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, the GRNMA suspended the strike on June 13, offering temporary relief to a health system already under pressure.
However, the unrest in the health sector did not end there.
On October 2, 2025, nearly 7,000 newly recruited nurses and midwives, under the banner of the Coalition of Unpaid Nurses and Midwives, staged a major protest in Accra.
These health workers, who had been posted as far back as December 2024 following financial clearance, claimed they had not received any salaries for almost 10 months.
The protest began at Efua Sutherland Children’s Park, with demonstrators marching to the Ministries of Finance and Health, where they submitted petitions demanding immediate payment.
While some of their colleagues reportedly received partial payments in April 2025, the vast majority remain unpaid.
Government officials, including a Deputy Minister of Finance, acknowledged the issue and assured the protesters that steps were being taken to resolve the problem.
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