By Stanley Senya
Accra, Oct. 7, GNA – Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Minister of Health, has said that specialist training must be linked to deployment, career development and the availability of appropriate equipment and institutional support to ensure that investments in human resources translated into improved patient outcomes.
He was speaking at the opening of the 11th Annual General Meeting and 6th Scientific Seminar of the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives at the Pentecost Convention Centre, Gomoa Fetteh.
The seminar is on the theme: “Building a Resilient Specialist Nursing and Midwifery Workforce to Improve Health Outcomes.”
Mr Akandoh said Ghana’s changing health needs required a workforce capable of providing prolonged, coordinated and increasingly specialised care.
He noted that the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, demanded for specialised and long-term care, continuing infectious disease threats and advances in medical technology were changing what was expected of nurses and midwives.
He said specialist nurses played a critical role in areas including emergency and critical care, oncology, renal care, mental health, neonatal care and maternal and newborn health.
“Specialist expertise can make a decisive difference. It helps professionals recognise complications earlier, make sound clinical decisions and contribute effectively to multidisciplinary teams,” he said.
The Minister said specialist nurses and midwives also strengthened the wider health workforce through teaching, supervision and mentorship.
He, however, cautioned that specialist training would not yield its full benefits without adequate staffing, equipment,p supportive leadership and opportunities for continuous professional development.
Mr Akandoh said the Government’s health reforms, including Free Primary Healthcare, the National Health Insurance Scheme and the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, popularly known as Mahama Cares, were creating a continuum of care that required corresponding investment in specialist human resources.
He said Free Primary Healthcare, launched in April 2026, was designed to strengthen prevention, early detection, screening and treatment at the community and primary healthcare levels.
The Minister said nurses and midwives were central to that process because they were often the first health professionals to identify risks, support behavioural change, explain diagnoses and determine when patients required referral.
He said the expansion of specialised services under the Ghana Medical Trust Fund would similarly require more specialist nurses and midwives to ensure that investments in treatment infrastructure translated into quality care.
“Equipment, financing and specialist medical care achieve their full value when supported by skilled nurses and midwives who can monitor patients, recognise complications, coordinate care and support families through recovery,” he said.
Mr Akandoh said the Ministry would, therefore, work with the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives, health facilities, training institutions and service agencies to better align training with staffing requirements and service delivery gaps.
He said workforce planning should also address the geographical distribution of specialists to reduce the extent to which access to specialised healthcare depended on a patient’s ability to travel to major cities.
The Minister stressed that the resilience of the health workforce should not depend on professionals enduring difficult working conditions.
“A health worker who is supported is better able to remain attentive, make sound decisions and provide compassionate care. Caring for the workforce is therefore part of caring for the patient,” he said.
He called for effective supervision, manageable workloads, attention to health worker safety and wellbeing, meaningful career progression and recognition of specialist competence.
Prof. Ebenezer Bugri Anarfo, the Chairman of the Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives, also said specialist nursing and midwifery education should be treated as a strategic national investment rather than merely an academic progression pathway.
He said Ghana needed to move beyond asking how many nurses and midwives it had to determine whether the country had the right skills, specialisations, leadership capacity, distribution and working conditions to meet its evolving health needs.
Prof. Anarfo said a resilient specialist workforce required investment in postgraduate education, continuous professional development, clinical mentorship, leadership development, research capacity, digital competencies and lifelong learning.
He said retaining skilled professionals was equally important because Ghana lost institutional knowledge, mentoring capacity and future leadership when trained specialists left for opportunities elsewhere.
The College Chairman called for policies and institutional arrangements that made professional development and career progression meaningful, including recognition, continuing education, leadership opportunities and supportive working environments.
He also urged stronger research and collaboration among the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service, Nursing and Midwifery Council, universities, teaching hospitals and professional associations.
He said the ultimate measure of specialist training should be its impact on patient care.
The College, he said, should therefore assess its contribution through improved quality and safety of care, better patient experiences, stronger clinical decision-making, improved maternal and newborn outcomes and reduced preventable complications.
The two speakers stressed the need for closer collaboration between academic and clinical institutions to ensure that specialist training remained relevant to the realities of Ghana’s health system.
The Minister said the measure of progress would ultimately be found in the lives of patients, including mothers who safely delivered their babies, as well as those whose complications were identified early, and families who could access specialist care.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo