Thousands of trained nurses in Ghana are waiting for a posting. Meanwhile, a Caribbean country has just asked for more of them. That is the striking contrast behind this week’s news, and if you know Ghanaian nurses who are job hunting, this is one to send to them.
Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says Antigua and Barbuda has requested additional health workers. The request came during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Commonwealth summit in Antigua, the same gathering where King Charles spoke about the slave trade.
“The first group of 120 nurses from Ghana is making an impressive impact,” he said, according to Citi Newsroom.
What we know about the first batch
The first group left for Antigua and Barbuda in January 2026. Citi reports they went on a three-year contract. Numbers vary slightly by report: Citi says 120 nurses, while MyJoyOnline says 121 nurses, midwives and allied health professionals.
They travelled under the Ghana Labour Exchange Programme, the government’s scheme for structured overseas employment. No detail has been published yet on how many more workers Antigua wants, when they would go, or how to apply.
Where else Ghanaian nurses could go
Antigua is not the only destination in the pipeline.
- Jamaica: agreements signed in May cover about 400 Ghanaian nurses, with talks also continuing on teachers.
- US Virgin Islands: a memorandum of understanding is expected this month for nurses and teachers. Numbers, qualifications and conditions have not been announced.
- Columbus, Ohio: an agreement signed in September is intended to create a framework for employment opportunities for Ghanaian nurses.
Note the careful wording. An MoU is a framework. It is not a job offer, and it does not mean recruitment has opened.
The problem at home
Why is Ghana sending health workers abroad at all? In April, Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said about 100,000 trained health professionals remained unemployed at the end of 2025 because of limits on public sector recruitment, Ecofin Agency reported. The ministry warned that this could rise to about 180,000 by 2028.
The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has put the number of unassigned nurses and midwives at more than 80,000. The two figures measure different groups and come from different sources, so don’t treat them as a contradiction.
Now here is the uncomfortable part. Unemployed nurses and short-staffed hospitals exist side by side. This week, management at the Upper East Regional Hospital described its staffing as dire. Its Chief Nursing Officer said the nursing workforce had fallen from nearly 460 to about 390, and she described a round on the children’s unit where three nurses were attending to about 45 patients.
So the issue is not that Ghana has too many nurses. It is that the posts, and the money to pay for them, have not kept up. That is one more thing to listen for when the 2027 Budget is read.
What nurses themselves are saying
The GRNMA has raised two concerns that deserve more attention.
Transparency. Its president, Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, has said bilateral recruitment agreements signed by Ghana are hard to find publicly, unlike those of some other countries. If you are about to sign a three-year contract, you would want to know what your government agreed to on your behalf.
Illegal agents. The association has warned its members against unlicensed recruitment agencies, citing the risk of exploitation and abuse. It says members can bring an agency to it for checks before going any further.
Protect yourself before you pay anyone
Online job fraud is a growing concern, and the Cyber Security Authority warned in September that fraudsters are cloning the websites of legitimate agencies. Whenever a new deal hits the news, expect fake “application portals” to follow.
- Check with the source. Confirm any scheme with the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Job Creation or the Ministry of Health.
- Ask the GRNMA. It has offered to help members verify agencies.
- Be suspicious of fees. Ask exactly what any payment covers, and who receives it.
- Protect your documents. Do not send your PIN certificate, Ghana Card or bank details to an unverified recruiter.
- Read the contract. Know the duration, pay, housing arrangements and who covers your flight before signing.
Our guide to spotting online scams in Ghana goes through more warning signs, and the CSA takes reports on 292.
A good deal or a lost generation?
Both can be partly true. For a nurse who has waited years for a posting, a legitimate contract abroad could change a family’s life. For a patient on a crowded ward in Bolgatanga, every departure hurts. Good policy has to deal with both realities at once.
If you are a nurse or midwife, what would you choose: wait for a posting at home or take a contract abroad? And has any agent approached you? Tell us in the comments, and share this with a colleague before they pay anybody.
Featured image: Nursing graduates at a ceremony in northern Ghana. This photo is for illustration and does not show nurses in the overseas programmes. Photo: Sir Amugi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
