The Minority Caucus in Parliament has called on the government to immediately work on the financial clearance for newly recruited nurses and midwives, many of whom have gone nearly a year without pay.
In a statement on Monday, the caucus said it was deeply troubled by the hardship facing thousands of health professionals who have been serving in hospitals and clinics across the country since their posting, yet remain unpaid due to what it described as “administrative neglect and political indifference.”
The caucus explained that the Ministry of Finance had issued a clearance for the recruitment of over 13,000 nurses and midwives, which was valid until December 31, 2024. However, delays by the Ghana Health Service in recruiting some of the personnel meant that about 7,000 of them started work in December and were not captured for salary payment under the same clearance as their colleagues who began in July.
“It is unfair for some nurses and midwives to receive five months’ pay while others work ten months into 2025 without a single salary,” the statement said. “These professionals did no wrong. The Minister of Health should rather query the Ghana Health Service for the delay in recruitment, not punish the staff.”
The caucus argued that the government could easily extend the financial clearance to regularise the situation, noting that such extensions are routine within the public service. It described the government’s failure to act promptly as “a conscious decision not to prioritise the welfare of these health workers.”
“What we are witnessing is not an administrative oversight,” the statement continued. “It is a politically motivated omission that has left thousands of health workers stranded.”
The Minority further accused the government of attempting to mislead the public by framing its late move to seek Cabinet approval for the expired clearance as an act of goodwill. “This is not benevolence,” the caucus said. “It is an attempt to correct a failure that should never have happened.”
The group recalled that earlier in the year, when the affected nurses and midwives embarked on industrial action to demand their salaries, it appealed to them to return to work in the interest of patients. The caucus said that act of goodwill has not been reciprocated by the government, which continues to treat the issue with indifference.
Reaffirming its support for the unpaid nurses and midwives, the Minority Health Caucus called on the government to immediately extend the financial clearance, pay all arrears owed, and introduce administrative reforms to prevent such lapses in future.
“The Minority stands with the health workers of Ghana,” the statement concluded. “They are not asking for favours, only for what is rightfully theirs.”
