The Ministry of Health (MoH) says it is introducing a volunteer programme to serve in rural and deprived areas, especially for more than 6,000 health graduates awaiting employment.

According to the ministry, the volunteer arrangement would cover health professionals who completed training from 2022 to date and were not included in the current recruitment exercise for the 2021 batch of nurses and midwives.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Monday [May 18, 2026], the Director in charge of Human Resources at the Ministry of Health, Frederick Mensah-Acheampong, stated that the processes would begin in the coming weeks alongside a mop-up exercise to fill remaining vacancies.

Under the volunteer programme, participants would receive stipends and would be considered during future mainstream recruitment exercises.

“These volunteers will be given some stipends and then they will also be considered, they will be given some priority when we are going to do the main recruitment,” Mr Acheampong explained.

He did not state the amount to be paid as stipends or provide details on the terms of the arrangement.

Mr Acheampong stated that nurse assistant preventive cadres would be given first consideration under the volunteer programme, followed by other assistant categories, as part of efforts to support preventive and community healthcare delivery.

The ministry also announced plans to begin a separate recruitment exercise for medical officers to fill vacancies in rural and deprived communities.

Mr Acheampong did not indicate the number of doctors to be recruited but stated that the process would commence in the coming weeks.

He explained that the move follows a growing backlog of unemployed health professionals across the country.

According to him, the ministry currently estimates that about 105,000 trained health professionals remain unemployed nationwide.

The figure represents an increase from the 74,000 backlog earlier mentioned by the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, in Parliament in 2025.

Mr Acheampong stated that the ministry intended to distribute available financial clearance across all professional categories, regardless of the number of vacancies available at a particular time.

“Even if you get one, you will share for everybody to get some form of it,” he said.

Mr Acheampong successful applicants from the current recruitment exercise would report to their district health directorates for interviews and document verification before assumption of duty.

He stated that the newly recruited health professionals would begin work on July 1, 2026.

“We are not going to allow anyone to work and they will not be paid,” he added.

Mr Acheampong further stated that the ministry expected additional financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance before the end of the year to support another round of recruitment.

According to him, the recruitment portal would be reopened after the mop-up exercise once the clearance was received.

He also advised health professionals to update their records on the ministry’s recruitment portal rather than waiting until recruitment windows were announced.

“If your records are not there, you can contact the ministry so that it can help you to rectify them. You don't want to wait until recruitment is out before you rush to do some of these things,” he said.