How Ghana has reversed exodus of nurses

Ghana's government has scrapped a controversial ban on newly qualified nurses travelling to find more lucrative employment abroad. They introduced it 10 years ago when the West African country was suffering from a shortfall of nurses as many headed off for better opportunities in the West. It began a scheme funding the education of nurses who then had to agree to work for the next five years in Ghana. But now the government says it has enough nurses and it is no longer useful to keep them under bond. "There are now more private schools churning out nurses and some of them can't even find jobs," Dr Kwesi Abir, the health ministry's deputy director of human resources, told the BBC. Trainee nurses in Ghana with a dummy patient in bed Nurses who entered the training scheme had to commit to staying in Ghana for five years after qualifying "There is no point to continue to pay the tuition of nurses and also give allowances when hundreds are paying their own fees in private schools," he said. The policy reversal is unlikely to lead to an immediate exodus of nurses because although the bond scheme stopped taking new entrants last year, it takes four years to qualify as a nurse and those already in the scheme will have to finish their five-year service. If a nurse wants to jump the bond there is penalty of $650 (£422) to pay for each uncompleted year, something very few can afford to do. And the authorities will not issue certificates that will enable them to work abroad unless the fine is paid.