The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has expressed worry about the potential negative impacts on the nation's healthcare system of the bilateral agreement between the governments of Ghana and Britain to send qualified Ghanaian nurses to the United Kingdom.
The Association claims that even while the agreement is admirable, if it were to fully implement, there may be a shortage of properly educated nurses.
Perpetual Ofori Ampofo, the president of the GRNMA, stated in an interview that there are now just a few professionally educated nurses in the system, thus the government must train more nurses to prevent having a detrimental influence on the bilateral agreement.
"You saw that we have a higher percentage of certificate holders than diploma and degree holders, which is surprising. As a result, we are training a large number of professionals, but some of them are not the best, and they are still caring for Ghanaians. As a result, we need to change and also consider improving the GRNMA's infrastructure and supporting the caucus so that they will be better able to train more specialized nurses and midwives to increase the capacity of the country's human resources.
"At that moment, you will unquestionably have enough people to work in Ghana and also travel overseas to work. However, given the current situation, we will be hurt by what we did with the UK even if we are unable to undo it, according to the GRNMA President.
During the 2023 Budget debate on Monday, December 5, 2022, on the Floor of Parliament, the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang Manu, stated, "We are engaging with the government of the United Kingdom, and we are just about to sign a memorandum of agreement after cabinet approval to begin to send nurses for training and work there and come back home after three years. When the contract is ended, it's probable that we will receive more than 1000 pounds to come and help Ghana's healthcare system for every single nurse that leaves.