By Jibril Abdul Mumuni
Accra, Sept. 02, GNA – Mrs Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, President of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), has called on foreign countries recruiting Ghanaian nurses and midwives to support the country’s health sector.
She said the support should be implemented through investments in infrastructure, training and workforce development.
She said destination countries that benefited from the expertise of Ghanaian health professionals should contribute to strengthening the health system that trained them.
She said this at the Capacity Building and Social Dialogue on Health and Care Workforce Migration in Ghana and Nigeria which was held on the theme, “From Evidence to Action: Social Dialogue for Fair, Ethical and Sustainable Healthcare Workforce Migration in Ghana.“
Ghana has in recent years experienced increasing migration of health professionals, particularly nurses and midwives, to countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia in search of better remuneration, improved working conditions and career advancement opportunities.
The trend has raised concerns among health sector stakeholders about its impact on healthcare delivery, especially in public health facilities already struggling with workforce shortages.
The migration phenomenon has also sparked debate over how Ghana can balance the right of health workers to seek opportunities abroad with the country’s need to maintain an adequate health workforce.
Mrs Ofori-Ampofo said while migration remained the right of workers seeking better opportunities, both Ghana and recipient countries must work towards arrangements that were beneficial to all parties.
“It is very important that when we go into bilateral agreements with countries,we get those destination countries to come back in a way to support our health system, whether in terms of helping with infrastructural development, training, faculty development or the development of skills laboratories,” she said.
Mrs Ofori-Ampofo noted that countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia continued to attract large numbers of Ghanaian nurses and midwives because of better remuneration, improved working environments and greater opportunities for career progression.
She said available data from the Nursing and Midwifery Council indicated that between 300 and 400 nurses and midwives applied for verification each month as part of the process required to seek employment abroad.
The GRNMA President said Ghana was increasingly losing skilled health professionals despite having many trained nurses awaiting employment due to delays in recruitment and financial clearance processes.
She stressed the need for government to adopt attractive retention measures, including improved conditions of service, expanded career development opportunities and increased investment in healthcare facilities.
Mr Daniel Oberko, Regional Secretary of Public Services International for Africa and Arab Countries, said health worker migration should be managed in a manner that protected workers’ rights while safeguarding the capacity of countries such as Ghana and Nigeria to provide quality healthcare services to their citizens.
He said inadequate financing of the health sector remained one of the major drivers of migration and warned that continued loss of trained professionals could place additional pressure on those remaining in the system.
Mr Oberko also called for broader stakeholder consultations in the formulation of migration policies and bilateral labour agreements to ensure that the interests of health workers, governments and citizens were adequately protected.
The labour leader said recipient countries and recruitment agencies should support efforts to strengthen health systems in source countries to help address workforce gaps created by migration.
GNA
Reporter: Jibril Abdul Mumuni
Edited by Samuel Osei-Frempong