President John Dramani Mahama has called on health workers across the country to accept postings to deprived and hard-to-reach communities, describing it as a national duty that cannot be ignored.
Speaking during the 2026 State of the Nation Address in Parliament, the President acknowledged the progress made in the health sector but made it clear that gaps remain — especially in rural areas where access to care is still a challenge.
“I appeal to our gallant health workers to accept postings to underserved areas. It is a national call to duty, while we work to ensure they have an enabling environment to carry out their responsibilities,” he said.
President Mahama noted that Ghana’s health workforce has grown sharply over the past year. Workforce density has risen from 16.6 per 10,000 people in 2025 to nearly 42 per 10,000 currently. Public sector health employment, he added, has doubled to about 200,000 workers.
He revealed that when his administration took office at the beginning of 2025, about 103,000 trained health professionals were still waiting to be posted, employed, or enrolled onto the government payroll.
Over the past year, he said, 13,500 nurses and midwives — along with hundreds of doctors and pharmacists — have since been absorbed into the public system.
Beyond recruitment, the President said steps have been taken to improve morale and retention. Nursing trainee allowances have been restored and regularised, application fees have been reduced, and the No-Fee Stress initiative has been extended to make training more accessible. Service conditions are also being implemented to improve motivation within the sector.
But he stressed that the work is far from over.
“Government will expand recruitment and take steps to add more health workers onto the payroll. We will introduce targeted incentives to correct the uneven distribution of health personnel, particularly in underserved areas,” he assured Parliament.