The Ministry of Health has posted 4,799 health personnel who graduated in 2015, to various health facilities in line with their Strategic Development Goals.

“In furtherance of the Strategic Development Goals and improving primary healthcare, the Ministry of Health has recruited and posted Four thousand, seven hundred and ninety-nine (4,799) Nurses, Psychiatry nurses, enrolled nurses, Community Nurses and Midwives who graduated in 2014 and 2015 to various health facilities in Ghana,” a statement signed by the Head of Public Relations of the Health Ministry, Tony Goodman has said.

According to the Ministry, the categories of persons employed are as follows:

Registered Midwives         1,268

Registered Community Nurses          56

Registered General Nurses (Psychiatry)           507

Health Assistant Clinical          321

Registered General Nurses         2,389

Community Health Nurses          258Total         4,799

These numbers are contained in the verified list from the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

The statement added that “All facilities are to ensure that staffs to be engaged have their documents processed early and placed on the Mechanized Payroll to enable the Controller and Accountant–General effect payment of their salaries on time. This will reduce the incidence of arrears paid to staff.”

The Ministry of Health added that it is about completing all the seven (7) District Hospitals under the NMS Built to Care programme, eight (8) district hospitals by Euroget, the Ridge expansion project, the Teaching Hospitals expansion project and the 1,000 CHPS compounds throughout Ghana.

All nurses undergoing training in the various public and private nursing training schools will from 2017 be employed in these facilities, the statement said.

The ministry further reiterated that starting from the 2017/2018 academic year, new entrant trainee nurses will not be mandated to serve a bond after completion of their training in government funded health training institutions.

Meanwhile, the Ministry is in talks with the Ministry of Finance to secure additional Financial Clearance, which will help engage nurses from private training institutions and other graduate nurses across the country.