The Minority in Parliament has accused the government of using recruitment into the Ghana Health Service (GHS) as an election gimmick to win votes from unemployed healthcare graduates.
According to the Caucus, the recruitment announcement for 15,200 nurses and midwives is an electioneering strategy to deceive them.
Ranking Member on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, who made the accusations, cited the lack of general recruitment since 2020 as evidence of the government’s inconsistent approach.
While acknowledging the move as a step in the right direction, the Minority called for a more consistent and predictable recruitment process, free from political motivations.
Hon. Akandoh was responding to an announcement by the government that processes for the recruitment of 15,200 health professionals will begin on August 5.
The Ranking Member pointed to previous instances where recruitment announcements were timed to coincide with elections, suggesting a pattern of political manipulation.
According to him, in the first term of President Akufo-Addo’s government, general recruitment of health workers was deferred to the period spanning November 4th to 15th of 2020, a few weeks before the elections.
“Following the election, healthcare graduates had to endure long waits for employment, leading to a significant decline in the number of healthcare workers, from 251,527 in 2021 to 182,233 in 2023,” he said.
The Ranking stressed that recruitment into the Ghana Health Service should be annual to contribute to a broader framework to deliver quality health services to Ghanaians and should not be used as an election gimmick.
“Recruitments should be, at the very least, a predictable annual affair,” the Juaboso MP.
The Minority stressed the struggles of nursing trainees and healthcare graduates beyond the recruitment under the current government. Payment of nursing trainee allowances has been sporadic, with some trainees owed up to 27 months of allowances.
Akandoh noted that allowances meant to sustain them during their rotational service are predictably delayed adding that this year’s recruitment focuses solely on nurses and midwives, thereby neglecting other healthcare workers.
He urged healthcare graduates not to be swayed by what it terms “political gimmicks” and to advocate for a government that prioritizes a robust, annual recruitment strategy.
“Choose a government that will implement a robust, annual recruitment strategy,” he said and stressed the need for a consistent and reliable employment process for healthcare professionals.
