Forty-seven Ghanaian health professionals have departed to St Kitts and Nevis under the Ghana Labour Exchange Programme (GLEP) to support the Caribbean nation's health system while gaining international clinical experience.
The group comprises 32 general nurses and 15 Community and public health nurses selected to undertake a two-year placement at one of the largest hospitals in St Kitts and Nevis.
The bilateral agreement guarantees accommodation, remuneration, transportation, meals and other agreed conditions of service for the beneficiary nurses.
The nurses will return to Ghana after the assignment with enhanced knowledge and clinical experience to support the country's healthcare system.
The health professionals departed from the Accra International Airport on the morning of last Saturday.
Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Grace Ayensu-Danquah; Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Administration, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo; along with officials from the ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs, and representatives of the GLEP Secretariat saw them off.
Addressing the group before their departure, Dr Ayensu-Danquah encouraged the nurses to serve with professionalism, gain valuable clinical experience, and return to Ghana with enhanced skills to strengthen the country's healthcare system.
She also assured the health professionals that mechanisms were in place to support them while abroad, and urged them to communicate any challenges early so they could be addressed.
"Don't go and come back the same way you left. It is an opportunity for you to learn something, come back and support our health system," she said.
Initiative
In an interview with the media, Dr Ayensu-Danquah said the Ministry of Health and its partners selected the nurses through a competitive recruitment process that included interviews conducted with representatives from St Kitts and Nevis.
She added that the successful applicants demonstrated professionalism, resilience and the competencies required for international deployment.
Dr Ayensu-Danquah explained that the labour exchange programme formed part of a broader strategy to address the backlog of trained but unemployed health professionals while government continued domestic recruitment.
She said government had begun recruiting the 2021 batch of nurses and health workers, and expected to recruit more than 25,000 this year while pursuing managed migration opportunities with partner countries.
She added that additional batches were expected to depart for countries, including Jamaica, the Bahamas and Grenada, after similar recruitment and interview processes.
The Deputy Minister also linked the programme to government's flagship health interventions, explaining that Free Primary Healthcare focused on preventive care while Mahama Cares supported people living with critical illnesses, particularly complications arising from non-communicable diseases.
Dr Ayensu-Danquah said Ghana had concluded bilateral agreements with about 14 countries seeking qualified Ghanaian health professionals under structured labour mobility arrangements.
“Each agreement reflects the workforce needs of the partner country and contains negotiated conditions covering accommodation, remuneration, transportation, meals and other welfare provisions,” she said.
Reset
For her part, the Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Administration described the departure as another milestone under the GLEP, saying it created structured, ethical and coordinated labour mobility for Ghanaian health professionals.
Nana Oye Bampoe Addo said the initiative addressed the challenge of thousands of qualified but unemployed health workers by creating legal and mutually beneficial opportunities abroad while ensuring that they remained connected to Ghana.
She urged the departing professionals to uphold Ghana's reputation through discipline and professionalism.
"You are now ambassadors of Ghana, and the world will judge us by how you conduct yourselves," she said
