Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh says Ghana would need at least GHS6 billion to recruit all 74,000 unemployed health professionals currently waiting to be absorbed into the public sector.

Speaking on the financial demands facing his ministry on The Point of View on Channel One TV on Wednesday October 15, the Minister highlighted the scale of the unemployment backlog in the health sector and the budgetary challenges that come with addressing it.

“We will need not less than GHS6 billion to be able to absorb all the 74,000 health professionals at home at the moment,” he said.

His comments follow recent disclosures by Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Nyarko Ampem, who revealed that the country has been grappling with a significant backlog of both health and education professionals since 2019.

According to Mr. Ampem, about 26,000 health professionals are trained annually, but only half are typically recruited due to budget constraints. The remaining professionals add to an ever-growing pool of qualified but unemployed workers.

The Deputy Minister noted that the education sector faces a similar problem, with a backlog of 71,000 trained teachers also awaiting employment.

Mr. Akandoh’s remarks underscore the scale of the challenge facing the government in meeting both employment demands and fiscal limits.

The Health Minister also noted that his ministry has been working to gradually clear the backlog by collaborating with the Finance Ministry to put newly recruited health workers on the payroll, even amid financial difficulties.