Here is why UK can no longer ‘recruit’ health workers from Ghana

By
Samuel Siaw
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The vice president of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons has thrown more light on reports that health workers from Ghana can no longer be recruited to work in the United Kingdom (UK).

In a series of Twitter posts, Bright explained that Ghanaian health workers have not been barred from traveling to UK as being circulated but recruitment agencies in the country have been urged to stop recruitment.

He disclosed that the UK government has stopped recruiting health workers from Ghana and other listed African countries because the World Health Organization (WHO) has been forcing them to stop recruiting from these countries since 2020.

“Reports that the UK has now placed Ghana & Nigeria on a ‘red list’ of countries from which nurses, doctors & care workers cannot migrate to the UK to work is NOT correct. Rather, Ghana & Nigeria have been on a WHO Safeguard List barring ‘active recruitment’ since 2020.

“The List, based on WHO’s 2010 Global Code of Practice, is voluntary. The UK has been lax in enforcement despite domesticating the code. WHO reaffirmed the list in Jan 2023 & pressure from UK health unions increased on the UK to comply & stop recruiting from Red List countries.

“The List, based on WHO’s 2010 Global Code of Practice, is voluntary. The UK has been lax in enforcement despite domesticating the code. WHO reaffirmed the list in Jan 2023 & pressure from UK health unions increased on the UK to comply & stop recruiting from Red List countries.

“Red List Health Workers themselves are not barred from migrating. But their “active recruitment” is barred. What this means is that employment agencies must not seek to attract health workers from such countries. The issue is that many intending migrants rely on such agencies,” parts of the tweets he shared read.

The National Health Service (NHS) of the UK, in a statement issued, explained that the listed countries have a UHC Service Coverage Index that is lower than 50 and a density of doctors, nurses and midwives that is below the global median (48.6 per 10,000 population).

It added that the list doesn’t prevent individual health and social care personnel from independently applying to health and social care employers for employment in the UK, of their own accord and without being targeted by a third party, such as a recruitment agency or employer (known as a direct application).