Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has defended the introduction of strict quotas on student admissions into nursing and midwifery training institutions, arguing that Ghana cannot continue admitting far more students than it can employ.
Speaking on Starr FM’s Morning Star on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, the minister said the country currently admits between 50,000 and 60,000 students into these programmes every year while recruiting only about 10,000.
“What it means is that the backlog can only increase. So we must check the valve and what we are recruiting,” he stated.
Akandoh noted that nursing, midwifery, and teaching once offered near-guaranteed employment after graduation, which made the courses highly attractive. That reality has changed. Until the backlog is significantly reduced, he said, intake must be regulated.
He addressed criticism that he is now implementing the same quota system he opposed while serving as Ranking Member on the Health Committee, insisting that the context has shifted.
During the 2016 election campaign, his party proposed replacing the nurses’ training allowance with student loans, while the then-ruling party promised to maintain the allowance.
After winning power, that administration struggled to pay the allowances because of the large numbers being admitted and eventually introduced quotas to manage the cost.
“Allowance is no more the problem at the moment. As I speak to you now, we’ve paid all allowances; none are outstanding,” the minister said.
“So it is no more an allowance issue. It’s now a recruitment issue—getting the person jobs.”
If there were no backlog, Akandoh said, the government would prefer to increase intake to avoid future shortages of health professionals.
The current goal is to reduce the backlog to around 40,000 before considering any expansion of admissions.
He singled out private training institutions for particular concerns, noting that many operate with little regulation of student numbers and graduates then turn to the state demanding employment.
“It becomes the burden of the state,” he said. The new policy will apply quotas to both public and private institutions based strictly on available facilities, including the number of lecturers, classrooms, and practical training capacity.
Akandoh cited Nalerigu Nursing Training School as an example where the institution was given a quota of about 750 students based on its facilities but admitted 2,500.
However, following a surprise visit by the minister, the principal was suspended.
The minister insisted that while the state feels a responsibility to employ health professionals, it cannot absorb unlimited numbers produced without regard to national capacity or budget realities.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
