500 nurses leave Ghana every month – GRNMA discloses

General Secretary of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), David Tenkorang, has disclosed an average of 500 nurses migrate out of Ghana monthly.

According to him, these nurses travel to the choicest countries to continue their careers, as they are provided improved conditions of service.

Shedding light on the number of nurses to have left the country during and after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the shores of Ghana, David Tenkorang told Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, “We have the data of nurses who have migrated out of Ghana and we have about 5,000 nurses who left Ghana amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Averagely, we have between 400 to 500 nurses leaving the country every month. They migrate to the UK, Ireland, Wales, Canada, USA and Australia. These are the areas they are migrating to.”

He shared that a few of these nurses migrate to the Middle East, but described that part of the world as not a so good destination for them (nurses).

David Tenkorang admitted the migration of nurses poses a considerable risk to Ghana’s healthcare delivery. “If we don’t put in place measures to keep them in Ghana, then we can lose all of them and that’s a problem for us,” he lamented.

Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang Manu, has revealed an imminent bilateral agreement between the Government of Ghana and the British Government to send Ghanaian trained Nurses to the United Kingdom (UK) in exchange for financial considerations.

According to Mr Agyemang Manu, this will be similar to an already existing arrangement with Barbados, where he said Ghanaian nurses are excelling.

The MP for Dormaa Central made this known on Monday, December 5, on the Floor of Parliament during the 2023 Budget debate.