An Emergency Nurse at the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital (ENRH), Regina Quaicoe has decried the rate at which health workers are leaving the country for better conditions of service in advanced countries.
According to her, nurses are deprived of better conditions of service in the country which has called for the high number of nurses leaving the country.
She spoke to Spice FM as part of celebrations to mark this year’s International Nurses’ Day.
Madam Quaicoe stated that the conditions of service under which nurses work are unfavourable making reference to low salaries, inadequate supply of logistical support, and no provision of health cover for nurses.
” Most of our colleague nurses are leaving Ghana because of unfavourable conditions of service. A time will come where there will not be any nurse to attend to patients at various health centers.
Every nurse wants to practice nursing abroad because of proper working conditions. The system makes them feel valued unlike us here,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare has told the nurses that Ghanaians are looking up to them to meet their health needs in the country hence they should stay.
His comments come at a time the General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Authority (GMA), Dr Titus Beyuo earlier revealed that medical doctors and nurses are leaving the country in droves.
Dr Beyuo said brain drain has returned to the medical profession in Ghana.
Addressing nurses and other health professionals during the International Nurses Day, in Accra on Thursday May 12, Dr Nsia Asare said “I think the unethical way that the developed countries are trying to take our scarce health resources of this country is not the right thing to do. Ghana, like other developing counties, is seeing an increase in migration of our professional nurses to high income countries like United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and other countries as a result of the global shortage of nurses, caused partly by the impact of the coronavirus.
“This trend is quite worrying and it amounts to massive public subsidy to the wealthier nations, so we are subsidizing their health care system, given the fact that nursing education in Ghana is is mainly publicly financed , it also threatens to worsen the nurse-patient ratio and for that matter our ability to accelerate our progress towards universal health coverage which is a top priority of this government .
“I know many of our professional nurses continue to yearn for greener pastures beyond the shores of Ghana. I wish to take this opportunity to encourage all of you to stay like us and to contained to the development of our country health sector. Bear in mind that Ghanaians are looking up to you in their quest to maintain their health”.
