Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Minister of Health, has issued an ultimatum to the newly posted medical doctors who refuse to accept their posting.
According to Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, newly posted medical doctors have an additional week to report to their duty stations.
The health minister reported that newly posted medical doctors nationwide have refused to take up their posting.
Health Minister Akandoh revealed that seven out of every ten newly assigned doctors had failed to report.
He revealed that in the Upper West and Upper East regions, none of the newly posted medical doctors have reported as of Friday, November 29.
Speaking to journalists in Accra on Tuesday, December 2, the Health Minister stated, “We will give them an additional week to appeal to them to report to their various facilities where they have been posted. After that, we will do what we call validation.”
Health Minister Akandoh stressed that the postings would not be changed under any circumstances.
He further revealed that the government was also considering incentives to encourage compliance.
“We are engaging stakeholders in their respective districts—regional ministers, Members of Parliament, DCEs, chiefs—to facilitate their stay so they can give their best,” he said.
The Health Minister further revealed shocking statistics, noting that nearly half of the country’s medical doctors are concentrated in the Greater Accra Region,
He quizzed, “Is it not scary?, So at this point, the government has made a decision: let’s post these medical officers to where their services are needed most.”
Meanwhile, the President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr Ernest Yorke, has urged the government to invest in social amenities to attract doctors to underserved regions.
Speaking on JoyFM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, December 3, he stated, “Remember also that social amenities, you know, that roads are relatively poorer, you may not get cable or satellite television sometimes, and accommodation may be a challenge.
Most doctors are also middle-class, so they want the best for their kids; they want the best schools. You may not have such opportunities in the rural areas,” he said.
“We need to take the bull by the horns and decide that as a nation, this is what we want, we want to put our money where the need is,” he added.
He further explained, “Sometimes, accommodation issues have delayed doctors and other health professionals from assuming duties even if they have accepted to be posted there, and it has become a back-and-forth process until one is secured. Other times [they] would have to look for their own accommodations, and you may have to be reimbursed, or it is at your own cost”.
“If you are lucky, you may be provided with accommodation. Some districts have accommodation earmarked for doctors, but this is not the case everywhere”, Dr Ernest Yorke stated.
Watch the video below:
‘Unfortunately, there’s no way we’re going to change anything.’ – Health Minister gives medical doctors one week to report to their respective facilities, revealing that many are refusing postings to places outside the capital.
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) December 2, 2025
He says over 50% of all medical doctors are in… pic.twitter.com/7C7x0o3FsZ