The Ministry of Health has defended its recent recruitment of approximately 8,000 health professionals, stating that the exercise was aligned with the government’s free primary healthcare policy and targeted at improving healthcare delivery in rural and deprived communities.
Speaking to the press, the Director of Human Resource for Health Development at the Ministry of Health, Frederick Mensah Acheampong, stated that the ministry received financial clearance for the recruitment despite a backlog of over 105,000 unemployed health workers nationwide, some of whom have been waiting for employment since 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
“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 said.
Mr. Acheampong stated that the allocations were determined by staffing demands submitted by various health agencies, such as the Ghana Health Service and the Mental Health Authority. He pointed out that while past recruitment drives heavily favored registered general nurses and midwives, this recent process focused substantially on nurse assistants preventive and registered public health nurses.
“These two professions supported about 40 percent of the 6,500 recruited nurses because the emphasis at this point in time is on free primary healthcare and home-based care,” he explained.
To correct long-standing distribution imbalances, the ministry launched a new digital recruitment portal designed to decentralize postings directly to the district level. The new system required applicants to select their preferred districts themselves, rather than relying on central 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,” he said.
According to Mr. Acheampong, the digital platform experienced high traffic during the application window, resulting in over 53,440 health professionals verifying their data, nearly 30,000 accounts being created, and more than 26,000 profiles being completed. Enrolled nurses accounted for the highest number of submissions nationwide, totaling 4,158 applications.
For the first time, West Mamprusi, a district in northern Ghana, secured the highest number of successful applications, with more than 90 candidates choosing the area. The ministry noted that this pattern demonstrates progress in sending healthcare workers to underserved regions.
“Previously after recruitment, people would troop and ask for changes to work in the cities, but this time when you apply you go directly to the district,” Mr. Acheampong said.
The ministry acknowledged that some vacancies still remain unfilled, particularly in the northern Ghana, Upper West, and Savannah regions. A mop-up exercise is scheduled for the coming weeks to fill these empty slots, alongside positions at teaching hospitals and specialized centers like psychiatric hospitals.
Mr. Acheampong also warned applicants about fraudulent middlemen attempting to exploit vulnerable job seekers, noting that the ministry is working with security agencies to investigate potential scams.
“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 warned.
The next stage of the process involves districts inviting successful applicants for document verification and interviews, ahead of their official onboarding on July 1, 2026.
Looking forward, the ministry indicated that negotiations are underway with the Ministry of Finance to obtain further financial clearance for additional health professionals before the year ends. Plans were also disclosed to launch a volunteer recruitment program for over 6,000 health professionals who graduated from 2022 onward. This initiative will prioritize nurse assistants preventive and other support staff to prepare them for future employment openings.
Applicants were encouraged by officials to keep updating their portal profiles and to report any record discrepancies directly to the ministry.