The Ministry of Finance has approved the recruitment of 11,226 degree and diploma nurses to work in the country’s healthcare system.
“The Hon. Minister for Health is hereby granted financial clearance to enable the Ministry recruit eleven thousand, two hundred and twenty-six (11,226) Degree and Diploma Nurses who have completed their one-year mandatory rotation and are due for permanent employment,” according to a clearance letter signed by Deputy Finance Minister Abena Osei-Asare.
It further said that the emoluments of Degree and Diploma Nurses should be levied against the Ministry of Health’s Compensation of Employees vote in the 2021 Annual Estimates.
“The Ministry of Health is to ensure that the documents for Degree and Diploma Nurses are processed in a timely manner and that they are placed on the Mechanized Payroll system early enough for the Controller and Accountant-Department General’s to effect payment of their salaries,” the letter stated.
The effective date of the designated Degree and Diploma Nurses shall not be sooner than December 1, 2021, according to the letter.
“By a copy of this letter, the Controller and Accountant-General are urged to pay their salaries and make necessary Social Security and Income deductions to SSNIT and the Ghana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) Domestic Tax Division, respectively.”
Please note that the financial clearance will expire on December 31, 2022, and will not be valid beyond that date,” it stated.
A total of 120,367 health professionals have been recruited.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has stated that the government has hired a total of 120,367 health workers thus far.
In a social media post, the sector minister said, “As at July 2020, the government had recruited ninety thousand, six hundred and ninety-six (90,696) healthcare workers.”
Mr. Agyeman-Manu said in April 2021, the government again recruited 18,445 health professionals (mostly Degree and Diploma nurses) explain that with the addition the government would have recruited 109, 141 health professionals since 2017.
“Government has again given clearance for the recruitment of 11, 226 Degree and Diploma nurses. When you add that to the 109,141 already recruited, the government would have recruited 120,367 health professionals.
This figure excludes the recruitment done by the Ambulance service,” he stated.
Source|osimpamfm.com|Richard Owusu Tawiah
