The Medical and Dental Council has expressed concern about the huge number of medical professionals, especially medical doctors, leaving the country to seek opportunities abroad.

The issue has been the subject of a JoyNews investigation into hints that doctors and nurses are unhappy in Ghana due to the conditions under which they work and are now taking up opportunities in Europe, America and the Middle East.

At a ceremony to induct newly qualified medical and dental practitioners over the weekend, a member of the Medical and Dental Council, Dr. Constance Addo-Yobo pleaded with the newly qualified doctors not to seek greener pastures abroad at the expense of their country.

“Do not be tempted to look for greener pastures at places like the UK and other EEC countries as some of your colleagues are already doing, let us halt this brain drain. It is taking the taxpayer a lot to invest in your education.

“As the saying goes, let us all stay in Ghana because home is home and nowhere cool,” she said.

A 2021 report from the House of Commons in the United Kingdom has revealed that there are more health professionals of Ghanaian origin working for the National Health Service (NHS-UK) than in Ghana.

According to the report, a total of 3,395 healthcare workers from Ghana are working in the UK.

This is against a total of 3,236 Ghanaians working in the country as of 2021, according to statistica.com.

This development has been described by the Ghana Medical Association as disturbing. Vice President of the Association, Dr Justice Yankson, attributed the situation to poor working conditions, as well as the poor economic conditions of health workers.

“We keep seeing numbers in professions that ideally we think is absurd but that’s the reality. You go to work and you overhear professionals discussing their exit – either they are preparing themselves or in the next couple of days they may be leaving and you see it all the time.

“If you look at the situation there are various reasons, but you can summarise them as the economic – which seems to be number one – because people are employed as professionals, highly trained, with expertise that is well sought after by countries in the world over and they’re being given a pittance,” he said.