A Ranking Member of Parliament’s Health Committee, Nana Ayew Afriye, has raised concerns about the growing number of trained health professionals who remain unemployed due to what he describes as government’s inability to absorb them into the public health system.

According to the Effiduasi–Asokore Member of Parliament, the situation is forcing many qualified health workers to seek alternative livelihoods outside their profession.

He cited the case of Joseph Opata, a professionally trained nurse who has resorted to repairing tricycles to earn a living.

Dr Afriye warned that prolonged unemployment among trained health professionals could have serious consequences for the health sector, noting that practitioners who stay out of practice for extended periods risk losing their clinical skills and becoming professionally stale.

He made these remarks while contributing to the debate on the State of the Nation Address delivered by President John Dramani Mahama in Parliament.

Dr Afriye explained that Ghana’s health training institutions produce more than 20,000 nurses annually, in addition to thousands of other allied health professionals.

He added that about 8,000 pharmacists and other allied health personnel also graduate each year, further increasing pressure on government to create employment opportunities within the health sector.

The Effiduasi–Asokore legislator also challenged claims by the president that his administration inherited about 103,000 nurses in the system and is making efforts to employ more.

According to Dr Afriye, the previous government rather left about 60,000 nurses in the system and had already issued financial clearance for the recruitment of 15,400 health professionals before leaving office.

Unemployed graduate nurses threaten demo

He explained that the 13,300 nurses the current government says it has recruited were drawn from that earlier clearance granted by the previous administration, questioning why the number was reduced from the original clearance of 15,400. Providing further context, Dr Afriye noted that when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) assumed office in 2017, it had inherited a backlog of unemployed graduate nurses from both public and private nursing training institutions, covering batches from 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.

He said the previous government subsequently worked to absorb those batches into the health system but left behind another backlog comprising graduates from the 2021, 2022 and 2023 batches.

Dr Afriye warned that if the growing backlog of unemployed health professionals is not addressed through a clear and sustainable recruitment plan, the situation could escalate further

“With the cohorts graduating in 2025 and 2026 expected to join the queue, the backlog could soon rise to about 100,000 if urgent measures are not taken,” he cautioned.

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