The Health Ministry has announced that out of 53,000 applicants, only 6,200 nurses and midwives have been recruited.
In a news card shared by GHOne TV, the Ministry of Health stated, “Out of over 53,000 applicants, 6,200 nurses and midwives have successfully been recruited against the 6,500 target”.
At a press conference in Accra, the Director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Health, Frederick Mensah-Acheampong, revealed the Ministry of Health has successfully recruited 6,245 nurses and midwives out of 6,500 available slots under a nationwide recruitment.
According to Frederick Mensah-Acheampong, the recruitment process was highly competitive given the large pool of qualified applicants.
He further detailed that the process also recorded the recruitment of 771 out of 900 allied health professionals, 235 out of 250 pharmacy professionals, and 300 physician assistants.
Mr Mensah-Acheampong stated, “We have received financial clearance to recruit about 8,000 health professionals from the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry acknowledges the anxiety and interest these recruitment exercises have generated, particularly given the backlog of about 105,000 unemployed health professionals, some of whom have been awaiting recruitment since 2018 and 2019”.
He further disclosed that approximately 87 nursing slots remain unfilled in the Northern districts, adding that a mop-up exercise will be conducted in the coming weeks to absorb eligible applicants.
In related news, Ghana’s Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has revealed that there are over 100,000 unemployed health professionals across Ghana.
According to the Health Minister, when the NDC took over power, there were about 74,000 unemployed health professionals, but that number had risen to 100,000 at the end of 2025.
Kwabena Mintah Akandoh further admitted that the government cannot absorb all the 100,000 health professionals, although there are some spaces to be filled, attributing the problem to Ghana’s fiscal space.
Speaking in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, April 22, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh stated, “When we took over, initially, it was around 74,000 people, but around the end of 2025, we were around 100,000 health professionals who had been trained and were at home.
“We cannot absorb all the 100,000 people in our health system to get spaces, but of course, there are spaces that have also not been filled. The problem has to do with fiscal space. In every budget, we will only employ what we can pay.”
It will be recalled that Mintah Akandoh had earlier 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.
See the post below:
Out of over 53,000 applicants, 6,200 nurses and midwives have successfully been recruited against the 6,500 target… – Health Ministry#GHOneNews #EIBNetwork #GHOneTV #NewsAlert pic.twitter.com/QZaaPD5TNp
— GHOne TV (@ghonetv) May 18, 2026
