Ghana sends over 120 nurses to Antigua

Ghana on Monday sent 121 nurses and other allied healthcare professionals to Antigua, a Caribbean island nation, under the Ghana Labour Exchange Programme (GLEP). 

The GLEP, which was launched in 2025, is a Ghana Government initiative designed to facilitate legal, structured, and ethical international job placements for citizens, aiming to reduce unemployment and boost foreign exchange earnings. 

It targets both skilled (nurses, IT experts, doctors) and unskilled workers (laborers, farm helpers) for deployment to countries with labor shortages. 

Mr Julius Debrah, the Chief of Staff at the Presidency together with Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Health Minister and Mr Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum, the Minister of State in Charge of Special Initiatives saw the nurses off at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra. 

Mr Akandoh noted that GLEP was one of the interventions by President John Dramani Mahama to create more jobs for the people of this country. 

He said the Mahama Administration had inherited a backlog of more than 80,000 health professionals who had completed various degrees and yet were home and do not have jobs now. 

“So, as part of government intervention to create jobs, especially for health professionals; we are exploring avenues where countries have requested our health professionals to work with them,” Mr Akandoh said. 

“Today is about Antigua, we are working on Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad. So, we are doing that in batches,” he added. 

He said the Government would be following up on the nurses’ progress in Antigua with keen interest; declaring that “you are reminded of the fact that you are carrying the flag of Ghana”. 

“Therefore, we wish that you will go and work with diligence and professionalism. Those of you who are at home watching us, I am very hopeful that you will get to your tent.” 

He said: “Usually, the debate has been the fact that we do not have health workers in our various health facilities, but we are exporting health workers. That is not it. The availability of health professionals in this country is not a problem.” 

Mr Akandoh said the Government had inherited about 80,000 health professionals; saying “but, as you all know, we have a country to govern and at every point in time, our budget can absorb a certain proportion of them”. 

He noted that the Government was looking at absorbing some internally, in-country, in their various health facilities and that they were also exploring other avenues outside the country. 

Mr Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum, the Minister of State in Charge of Special Initiatives, said the GLEP was available for every skilled Ghanaian, who was ready and willing to be part of the programme. 

Source: GNA