Former GRNMA president blames government over UK red listing of Ghana health workers

The immediate past president for the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), Mr. Krobea Asante has blamed the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service over United Kingdom's decision to blacklist health workers from Ghana.

According to him, Ghana was blacklisted based on the statistics by successive ministers and authorities in the country’s health industry which have been provided to the World Health Organization.

He was speaking on the Kumasi based OTEC 102.9 FM's morning show Nyansapo on Wednesday April 12, 2023.

"I believe Ghana was blacklisted because our statistics before the WHO shows that, nurse to patients ratio in the country is not up to the require one, which stands to reason that, the country is struggling to meet its universal health coverage", he told the host Captain Koda.

"The question is, how can you export nurses when people in your country lack nurses to attend to them? ", he added.

The recruitment of healthcare workers from Ghana and 46 other countries have been suspended by the United Kingdom government as confirmed in its updated Code of Practice (CoP).

The UK said CoP provides safeguards against active recruitment from 47 countries on the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards list, and also aligns with World Health Organization’s (WHO) advice on ethical recruitment to promote effective, fair and sustainable international recruitment practices.

Mr. Krobea Asante emphasized that, Ghana will have to access its current strength in terms of training and employing nurses and provide evidence on whether or not it is ready to export nurses and achieve universal health coverage at the same time.