The Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Tony Goodman, has defended the government’s health worker exchange programme, saying it is helping address unemployment among thousands of trained health professionals while providing them with international work experience.
According to him, the initiative is a structured government-led programme designed to create employment opportunities for qualified health workers who have been unable to secure jobs in Ghana, rather than encouraging unregulated migration.
About 47 health professionals departed the shores of Ghana for Saint Kitts and Nevis under the government of Ghana’s health workforce migration initiative.
The initiative aims to protect the local healthcare system while helping medical professionals secure safe employment opportunities abroad.
Under the framework developed by the Ministry of Health, health workers are engaged on fixed-term contracts, typically lasting between two and three years, after which they are expected to return to Ghana.
Speaking on News Digest on Citi FM on Saturday, June 27, 2026, Mr. Goodman said more than 100,000 trained health workers have completed their education since 2019 but remain without employment.
“Currently we have over 100,000 health workers who completed training between the period from 2019 to date and are home. The best way is to get them to access other countries whilst we provide the needed job opportunity for those who are currently here,” he said.
He explained that the Ministry adopted the exchange programme as a pragmatic response to the growing number of unemployed health professionals.
“You must adopt a pragmatic approach towards dealing with this unemployment situation we have in the country, and the government, led by the Minister for Health, thought that this is a good strategy to do it,” he said.
Mr. Goodman said the programme also seeks to ensure that Ghanaian health workers migrate under safe and regulated conditions while gaining valuable international experience.
“These health workers who are going to these countries on their own [are] facing all the dangers, living on their own, not having the best of salary and all that, but the government is leading this structured migration to make sure that they go and live in some dignity,” he said.
He added that the initiative is intended to improve the welfare of Ghanaian health professionals while equipping them with skills that will ultimately benefit Ghana’s healthcare system.
“We are doing this thing to provide dignity to the Ghanaian health worker, to provide safety and make sure that they get international experience to support our healthcare delivery in Ghana,” he said.
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