Ghana has not overproduced nurses; recruitment delays are the problem - Nursing and Midwifery Council

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) dismissed claims that Ghana has overproduced nurses and midwives, insisting that the unemployment challenge among health professionals stems from slow recruitment rather than an oversupply of graduates. The Registrar of the NMC, Philomena Woolley, made these remarks when the Council hosted Parliament's Health Committee during a meeting to discuss challenges facing the nursing and midwifery profession. Woolley stated, "I wouldn't say that we are having overproduction because when you look at the numbers, professional nurses are not that many. And also, it is the financial clearance that we do not have. Most of the hospitals when you go, they are empty and the nurses are not there."

According to the Council, Ghana still requires more than 100,000 nurses to improve its nurse-to-patient ratio. Limited financial clearance and inadequate health infrastructure have constrained the government's ability to employ qualified professionals. Woolley noted that Ghana's nurse-to-patient ratio remains far from ideal, particularly in specialized areas such as critical care, where staffing demands are higher. She mentioned that the requirement is "one nurse up to 830 which is even too high for us and look it depends on the condition because if you look at the critical care, sometimes it's one to one patients and therefore we need the nurses." Many trained nurses remain unemployed despite staffing shortages in health facilities across the country.