70,000 health workers remain unemployed in Ghana

• Posted on July 14, 2025July 14, 2025
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has disclosed that the number of trained health professionals currently seeking employment far exceeds the previously quoted figure of 30,000, revealing a total exceeding 70,000 across various health sectors.

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Akandoh provided a detailed breakdown of the figures, highlighting the scale of unemployment among nurses, allied health professionals, pharmacists, and medical doctors.

According to him, the number of unemployed nurses stands at 48,878, are;

• 15,947 from the 2021 batch
• 17,176 from the 2022 batch
• 15,755 from the 2023 batch

The Minister noted that while approximately 15,000 nurses were granted financial clearance and employed in December 2024, they are still in the process of being formally placed on the payroll.

Mr Akandoh also revealed that no financial clearance has been granted for allied health professionals since 2019, leaving 21,570 of them unemployed. Similarly, no pharmacist recruitments have occurred since 2019, with 1,621 pharmacists currently jobless.

In relation to medical doctors, the Minister noted that more than 900 qualified doctors remain unemployed and are currently awaiting placement. He confirmed that the Ministry has begun efforts to recruit them.

“The problem is, therefore, enormous,” Mr Akandoh admitted. “But we are committed to finding solutions to it.”

As part of broader efforts to tackle the unemployment challenge, the Minister said the government is exploring “managed migration” as a temporary strategy to ease the burden.

He disclosed that over 13 countries have formally expressed interest in recruiting Ghanaian nurses and other qualified health professionals.

Mr Akandoh reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to securing both local and international opportunities to reduce the backlog of unemployed professionals and improve health service delivery across the country.