Truant Doctors To Lose Salary – Minister Sets February Deadline

Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has directed that all medical doctors refusing to report to report to work at their assigned postings in rural communities will have their names removed from the government payroll by the end of February 2026.

The Minister says he would not compromise on the February deadline and explained the directive as one of the solutions to address severe staffing shortages in rural communities across the country.

Speaking during a working visit to the University of Ghana College of Health Sciences at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the Minister revealed that a validation exercise would be conducted at the end of February, and doctors who failed to report to their various postings would not be paid.

“By the end of February, we will do validation. If you have not reported, we will take your name out of the payroll,” he warned.

Mr. Akandoh didn’t mince words, reminding doctors that their training was heavily subsidized, even for fee-paying students, and that public funds, including contributions from cocoa farmers, have played a role in their education.

“If the cocoa farmers have helped fund your education and you complain that the place is a village, I beg to differ,” he said.

The Minister urged lecturers and medical trainers to encourage newly qualified doctors to accept postings across the country to help address critical staffing gaps in underserved communities.

“I think we must put our heads together to find a solution to this problem. I agree that there are genuine concerns”, he said.

The Minister maintained that deploying doctors to rural areas is critical to ensuring equitable healthcare delivery across the country.

In a recent working visit to the Oti region, the Health Minister expressed deep concern over the refusal of medical doctors to accept postings to rural and underserved areas.

He described the situation as worrying and called on all stakeholders to help find lasting solutions, calling for an urgent solution to the problem.

The minister rejected claims that newly deployed doctors are being punished through postings to rural districts, insisting that such deployments are necessary to ensure equitable access to healthcare across the country.

“Since I took office as Minister responsible for the health sector, I have indicated that no health professional should see going to serve in rural areas as a punishment. For me, in my humble opinion, it’s a call to duty,” Mintah Akandoh said.

Mr. Akandoh made it clear that the Ministry of Health will not change postings outside the approved process, stressing that doctors must serve where vacancies exist.

“We are not going to change anybody’s posting”

However, he acknowledged the need to address the underlying reasons health workers are reluctant to accept rural postings, calling for improved living conditions and incentives to make such areas more attractive.

“We should also do an introspection of why people are not going and how to facilitate their stay, to attract more people and retain them in the region,” he explained.