Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has revealed that over 13,000 nurses and midwives recruited in 2024 were not accounted for in the national budget, leaving the current administration to grapple with salary arrears and limited financial options.
The Minister’s comments, come in response to accusations by the Minority in Parliament that he misled health workers about salary payments and financial clearances.
While the Minority insists that the previous government had already made provisions for the recruits and accuses the current administration of unnecessary delays, Mr. Akandoh offered a different account.
“The reality is that in 2024, the government recruited about 13,500 nurses and midwives and issued clearance. But once you issue clearance, you must make financial provision. Clearance is not just a paper,” he said.
According to the Minister, although the clearance was granted, it expired on December 31, 2024, without the recruits being added to the payroll.
“As of 31st December 2024, not a single one of the 13,500 had been placed on the payroll. They started working around August, but no salary allocation had been made for them,” he explained.
Faced with no budgetary backing for the recruits, the current administration, he said, had two difficult options: either send the nurses home or allow them to work while finding a way to pay them.
The Health Ministry, in collaboration with the Finance Ministry, has since been gradually onboarding the affected nurses onto the payroll.
“Out of the 13,500, we managed to place about 10,000 on the payroll, but only 7,000 were receiving salaries. Some began receiving payments from around March,” he added.
Mr. Akandoh also disclosed that the situation became more complicated due to outstanding obligations, including unpaid allowances and unimplemented service conditions.
“There were arrears of allowances, and some conditions of service had been signed but not implemented. So the actual financial burden turned out to be much larger than originally anticipated,” he noted.
In light of these challenges, the Minister said his office had to return to Cabinet to seek fresh financial approval in order to avoid a budget overrun.
“We realised that if we didn’t go back to Cabinet, it would throw the budget off,” he stated.
The Health Minister’s revelations have intensified the political debate over public sector recruitment and fiscal planning, with pressure mounting on both current and past administrations over the handling of health worker employment.
