The Ministry of Health has defended its recent recruitment of health professionals, stating that the exercise was driven by government’s free primary healthcare policy and efforts to improve healthcare delivery in underserved communities across the country.
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday May 18,2026, the Director of Human Resource for Health Development at the Ministry of Health, Frederick Mensah Acheampong, disclosed that government secured financial clearance to recruit about 8,000 health workers despite a backlog of more than 105,000 unemployed professionals nationwide.
According to him, some unemployed health workers have remained without postings since 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Mr. Acheampong explained that the recruitment process prioritised preventive and community-based healthcare services, especially in deprived areas.
“This recruitment exercise was heavily guided by the objective of the free primary healthcare policy with emphasis on strengthening preventive care, community-based care and primary healthcare particularly in underserved areas of the country,” he stated.
He noted that unlike previous recruitment exercises which mainly focused on registered general nurses and midwives, the latest recruitment gave significant attention to nurse assistants preventive and registered public health nurses.
According to the ministry, the two categories accounted for nearly 40 percent of the 6,500 nurses recruited under the exercise.
The ministry also introduced a new digital recruitment portal aimed at decentralising postings directly to districts to address long-standing staffing imbalances.
Under the new system, applicants selected their preferred districts during the application process instead of receiving postings from the ministry.
“The ministry will not have any role to play again. It is the districts that will hold interviews and onboard successful applicants,” Mr. Acheampong explained.
The ministry revealed that the online portal recorded high traffic during the application period, with more than 53,000 health professionals verifying their details on the platform.
Out of that number, nearly 30,000 accounts were created while over 26,000 applicants completed their profiles.
Enrolled nurses recorded the highest number of applications nationwide with more than 4,100 submissions.
In a notable development, West Mamprusi District in northern Ghana recorded the highest number of successful applications, with over 90 applicants selecting the district.
The ministry described the trend as a positive sign in efforts to redirect health workers to underserved communities.
Mr. Acheampong further disclosed that some vacancies in northern Ghana, Upper West and Savannah regions remain unfilled, adding that a mop-up recruitment exercise will soon be conducted to fill the remaining positions, including vacancies at teaching and psychiatric hospitals.
Addressing concerns about fraud and middlemen during the recruitment process, he warned applicants against paying money to individuals promising recruitment assistance.
“Whenever we start this process, applicants should not avail themselves to these corrupt individuals because they will take your money and they will not be able to secure recruitment for you,” he cautioned.
Successful applicants are expected to undergo document verification and district-level interviews before officially beginning work on July 1, 2026.
The ministry also disclosed that discussions are ongoing with the Ministry of Finance to secure additional financial clearance for more recruitment before the end of the year.
Additionally, plans are underway to introduce a volunteer programme targeting more than 6,000 health professionals who completed school from 2022 onwards, particularly nurse assistants preventive and other critical support staff.
CREDIT: Mavis Fantevi
