The Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has disclosed that Ghana would require at least GHS6 billion to employ all 74,000 unemployed health professionals currently awaiting recruitment into the public sector.

He explained that the figure reflects the financial burden on the Ministry of Health as it works to address the backlog of qualified health workers who have completed training but remain jobless.

Mr. Akandoh said the challenge is compounded by the limited budgetary space available to the government.

“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 stated.

Mr. Akandoh made these remarks in an interview on Accra-based Channel One TV.

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

According to Mr. Ampem, although about 26,000 health professionals are trained each year, only half are usually recruited due to limited funding, leaving a growing number of qualified but unemployed workers.

Mr. Apem further noted that the education sector faces similar difficulties, with about 71,000 trained teachers yet to be employed.

Mr. Akandoh said his ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, is working to gradually clear the backlog by putting newly recruited health workers on the payroll despite fiscal challenges.