Some 130 Ghanaian health workers have left Ghana for Antigua under the government’s Labour Exchange Programme.
The health workers left the country on Monday, January 26, 2026, to undertake a three-year contract in Antigua.
The move is part of the Mahama government’s plans to tackle unemployment in Ghana while strengthening Ghana’s presence in the international health sector.
A departure ceremony was held at Kotoka International Airport with the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, seeing off the health workers.
Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Minister of Health, highlighted that the intervention aimed at addressing the backlog of more than 80,000 unemployed health professionals.
Speaking on the initiative, the Minister of Health stated, “The Ghana Labour Exchange Programme is an initiative of the President to create jobs for citizens. Today, it is the turn of health workers. We inherited a backlog of more than 80,000 health professionals who have completed various degrees but are without employment.
“As part of efforts to create jobs, the government is exploring avenues where countries have requested that our health professionals work with them. Today, it is Antigua. We are also working on similar arrangements with Trinidad, Barbados, and Jamaica. These deployments will be done in batches,” he said.
Still on health workers news, the Health Minister has revealed that Ghana would need about GHS6 billion to recruit all 74,000 unemployed health professionals currently at home.
The health minister highlighted that his ministry is working to clear backlog by collaborating with the Finance Ministry.
Speaking in an interview on The Point of View on Channel One TV on Wednesday, October 15, the Minister explained, “We will need not less than GHS6 billion to be able to absorb all the 74,000 health professionals at home at the moment”.
Mintah Akandoh further clarified that the brouhaha surrounding the 13,000 newly recruited nurses and midwives’ clearance.
The health minister once again blamed the former Akufo-Addo administration for issuing clearance without financial backing.
He stated, “The reality is that in 2024, the government started to recruit nurses and midwives. So the summary is that they recruited about 13,500 nurses and midwives and issued clearance”.
“Once you issue clearance, you must make financial provision. Clearance is not just a paper… you issue clearance when indeed you can pay when you recruit the people.”
“The clearance expired on 31st December 2024. What it means is that before the expiration… you must necessarily have all these 13,500 people on the payroll. As at the end of 31st December 2024, not a single one of the 13,500 people were on the payroll,” he added.