The Ministry of Health (MoH) has announced that newly recruited health professionals will begin work on July 1, 2026, following the closure of the recruitment portal for applications last week.

According to the ministry, while a mop-up exercise will reopen the recruitment portal to fill remaining vacancies across the country.

The ministry said the mop-up exercise would include positions at teaching and psychiatric hospitals, which were excluded from the main recruitment process.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Monday [May 18, 2026], the Director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Health, Frederick Mensah-Acheampong, stated that successful applicants would first report to their respective district health directorates for interviews and document verification before assumption of duty.

“Basically, the interview is to confirm the documentation of the professionals and their readiness to start work,” Mr Acheampong explained.

“Those who report early will get their salary in July,” he added.

Mr Acheampong stated that teaching hospitals and specialised institutions, including psychiatric hospitals, were intentionally left out of the main recruitment portal to prevent applicants from concentrating only in urban facilities at the expense of rural postings.

According to him, the mop-up exercise would also cover about 87 unfilled vacancies in the northern part of the country.

He added that the ministry recorded no successful applications for five available positions for certified registered anaesthetists, while more than 80 vacancies for registered public health nurses also remained unfilled after the main exercise.

Mr Acheampong indicated that the recruitment portal would only be reopened after the mop-up exercise if the ministry received additional financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance, which officials expected before the end of the year.

He further announced a volunteer recruitment programme for more than 6,000 health professionals who completed training from 2022 to date but are yet to be recruited into the public sector.

Under the arrangement, volunteers would receive stipends and would be given consideration during future mainstream recruitment exercises.

“The volunteer recruitment will cover over 6,000 prospective professionals who completed school from 2022 to today,” Mr Acheampong stated.

He clarified that health professionals from the 2021 batch currently being recruited would not qualify for the volunteer programme.

According to him, nurse assistant preventive cadres would be given priority under the volunteer arrangement, followed by other assistant categories to support community healthcare delivery under the government’s free primary healthcare policy.

Mr Acheampong also advised health professionals to regularly update their records on the ministry’s recruitment portal instead of waiting for recruitment announcements before doing so.

“You don't want to wait until recruitment is out before you rush to do some of these things,” he said.

He further announced that the ministry would soon begin a separate recruitment exercise for medical officers to serve in rural and deprived communities.