Over 300 health workers have left the Ghana Health Service in the Ashanti Region to pursue better opportunities abroad.
Authorities warn that this trend, observed in the first quarter of 2023, is negatively impacting healthcare delivery in the region.
Data from the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate reveals that 304 health workers, including doctors and nurses, have applied for leave without salaries.
Further investigations conducted by the directorate indicate that the majority of these workers have traveled overseas in search of improved living conditions.
Dr. Emmanuel Tinkorang, the Ashanti Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, acknowledges the detrimental effect this exodus is having on healthcare delivery in the region.
“When we did the analysis for the first quarter of 2023, we realized that about 304 applied for leave without pay which means that they have left the service, but additional information indicates that most of them have left the country and these are very skillful health workers with the right knowledge, attitude, and skill to do the job, but it seems that they have been attracted outside the country.
“This is worrying in the sense that these are workers that we need to run the health system in the country and the government is doing well by providing health infrastructure and if our people are leaving the country, how do we run this system?”