Korle Bu CEO urges immediate action to stop exodus of health workers
The CEO of Ghana’s leading referral hospital, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Opoku Ampomah, has sounded the alarm over the increasing exodus of doctors and nurses from the country. He emphasized the need for urgent action to address this crisis, which is severely impacting the hospital’s operations.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express, Dr. Ampomah expressed concern, saying, “Doctors and nurses are too eager to leave, and they are leaving. There are push and pull factors, so once better conditions are being offered elsewhere, people move because they feel they can earn more financially.”
Dr. Ampomah highlighted the growing concern over staff departures, noting, “We’ve had several doctors leaving, and so far, the numbers are concerning. It’s the trend that worries us because, while we currently have reasonable staff levels, we need to act soon to stem the tide.”
He underscored that the issue extends beyond the sheer number of healthcare professionals leaving, pointing out that the quality of the staff lost is a significant concern. “If you look just at the total number of nurses, the difference might not seem dramatic. But when experienced professionals like an ICU nurse with over 15 years of experience leave, it feels like losing an entire institution.”
Dr. Ampomah noted that Ghana is losing these skilled health professionals to Western countries and local private facilities. The recruitment of nurses by high-income countries from poorer nations has spiraled “out of control,” as noted by the head of one of the world’s largest nursing groups.
In 2022, over 1,200 Ghanaian nurses joined the UK’s nursing register, as the National Health Service (NHS) increasingly relies on staff from non-EU countries. Although the UK asserts that active recruitment in Ghana is prohibited, social media platforms make it easy for nurses to find and apply for vacancies in NHS trusts. Ghana’s dire economic conditions also serve as a major push factor driving this migration.
The latest Ghana Human Development Report sheds light on a worrying trend: a significant number of healthcare professionals are leaving Ghana due to poor working conditions. The report, titled “The Future Value of Work in Ghana,” was a collaboration between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Statistical Service, and the National Development Planning Commission. It reveals that 24% of locally trained nurses and 50% of doctors have moved abroad, posing a serious threat to the country’s healthcare system and risking its collapse if immediate action isn’t taken.
Korle Bu is implementing measures to retain its staff, Dr. Ampomah stated. “We realized that one of the reasons why our nurses were disaffected was the limited progression to higher grades once they reached the rank of principal nursing officer. Last year, we created about 110 new deputy chief nursing officer positions to allow those stuck at the principal nurse officer level to advance their careers.”
Dr. Ampomah also mentioned that the hospital has expanded the chief nursing officer grade, increasing the number of available positions. He explained, “Given the size of Korle Bu, particularly the surgical block which is comparable to a whole teaching hospital in terms of bed capacity, the previous structure didn’t allow experienced nurses to move up due to a bottleneck. This disparity was one of the reasons for staff discontent.”
He warned that even if nurses do not leave the country, they might transfer to other facilities with better career advancement prospects if these issues are not addressed. The hospital has since taken steps to correct these anomalies and improve career progression for its staff.
