Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has defended the introduction of strict quotas for nursing and midwifery admissions, arguing that Ghana must align student intake with its capacity to recruit health professionals.
Speaking in an interview on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, the minister maintained that the country cannot continue admitting between 50,000 and 60,000 students into nursing and midwifery programmes annually when the state recruits 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,”
Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh
Akandoh explained that the policy seeks to control the growing number of graduates awaiting public sector employment, while ensuring that training institutions admit students according to their teaching and practical facilities.
The minister noted that nursing, midwifery and teaching had previously attracted large numbers of applicants because graduates could expect to secure employment relatively quickly.
However, he indicated that the situation had changed, with the number of qualified graduates now exceeding available recruitment opportunities.
Nursing and Midwifery Admissions Must Reflect Recruitment Capacity
He argued that continuing to expand admissions without a corresponding increase in recruitment would deepen the backlog and place further pressure on the state.
Akandoh maintained that the immediate priority must therefore be to reduce the number of unemployed or unrecruited graduates before considering any significant expansion of student intake.
He disclosed that government was targeting a reduction of the backlog to approximately 40,000 before reviewing the admission restrictions. If the backlog did not exist, he explained, government would rather increase admissions to prevent future shortages of nurses and other health professionals.
The minister’s defence comes amid criticism that he is implementing a quota policy he previously opposed while serving as Ranking Member on Parliament’s Health Committee.
Akandoh Explains Shift from Allowance Debate to Jobs
Addressing the apparent change in position, Akandoh recalled that during the 2016 election campaign, his party proposed replacing the nurses’ training allowance with student loans, while the then governing party pledged to retain the allowance.
After assuming office, the previous administration encountered difficulties paying the allowances because of the large number of students admitted into the training institutions. It subsequently introduced quotas as a means of managing the financial commitment.
Akandoh argued that the circumstances informing the current policy were different, insisting that the central concern was no longer the payment of allowances but the employment prospects of graduates.
“Allowance is no more the problem at the moment. As I speak to you now, we’ve paid all allowances; none are outstanding,”
Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh
private Nursing Training Institutions Also Face Quotas
Akandoh raised particular concerns about private nursing and midwifery training institutions, arguing that some admit students without adequately considering their capacity or the employment opportunities available after graduation.
“So it is no more an allowance issue. It’s now a recruitment issue getting the person jobs.”
Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh
He noted that graduates from such institutions also turn to the state for jobs, making the consequences of uncontrolled admissions a public responsibility.
“It becomes the burden of the state,” Under the new policy, both public and private institutions will be assigned admission quotas based on their available facilities. These include the number of lecturers, classroom space and capacity to provide students with the practical training required for their programmes.
Nalerigu School Cited Over Admission Breach
To illustrate the need for tighter oversight, Akandoh cited Nalerigu Nursing Training School, which he indicated had been allocated a quota of about 750 students based on its facilities but proceeded to admit 2,500.
He disclosed that the principal was suspended after the minister made a surprise visit to the institution.
The case, he argued, demonstrated the need to ensure that training institutions comply with approved admission limits and do not exceed the capacity on which their quotas are determined.
Akandoh insisted that government could not continue absorbing the employment pressure created when institutions admit students beyond their facilities and the country’s recruitment needs.
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