Ghana Healthcare System Set for Reinforcement as Recruitment Nears.
The Ministry of Health says it expects to receive financial clearance within the next one to two weeks to recruit additional health workers to strengthen Ghana’s healthcare workforce.
The planned recruitment forms part of efforts to augment staffing levels across the health sector following the clearance of outstanding allowances and salaries owed to health professionals.
Speaking on Channel One Newsroom on Saturday, March 14, the Ministry’s spokesperson, Tony Goodman, said discussions between the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Finance had already resolved payment backlogs, paving the way for the next phase of workforce expansion.
“Currently, we have cleared everybody in the sector. The good news is that the Minister for Health and the Minister for Finance have worked to clear these allowances and salaries. Where we are now is that some of the staff we need to employ to augment what we have. We are making sure that within a week or two, we will receive some clearance to deal with those numbers we want to add to the staff we currently have,” he said.
The development follows an earlier announcement by the Ministry that it had secured financial clearance to pay thousands of health workers currently undertaking mandatory service.
In a statement issued on March 13 and signed by Goodman, the Ministry indicated that approval from the Ministry of Finance covers allowances and salaries for 14,279 rotation nurses and midwives, as well as 637 medical and dental house officers across the country.
According to the Ministry, the approval is expected to clear existing salary backlogs while introducing a new monthly payment arrangement for health workers undertaking mandatory service.
