Jobless certified Physician Assistants picket at Ministry of Health over posting

Today, Tuesday, April 25, 2023, a group of unemployed physician assistants who graduated in 2020 are protesting outside the Ministry of Health.

The group is requesting posting so they can get jobs.

They decided to picket today because their pleas for government officials to hire them when they graduate had gone unanswered for the past three years.

The health professionals claimed that their demonstration was essential because all prior attempts to persuade the government to post them to healthcare facilities had failed. They were holding placards with red arm bands and headbands.

After hearing the petition from the professionals on behalf of the sector minister, Isaac Offei Baah, PRO for the Health Ministry, noted that the Ministry only hires after gaining financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance.

“The Ministry makes recruitment based on clearance that we receive from the Finance Ministry. So when we get the clearance, we will open the portal and then we will allow them to apply.”

In the future, as we communicate, “we pray that we will be able to make things easier,” Mr. Offei Baah continued. “We understand the dissatisfaction they [the physician assistants] are displaying right now.

Spokesperson for the group, Asante Offei speaking to media he said they’ll stop at nothing to ensure that they have their issues addressed.

He said “We completed our mandatory internship in the months of March, April, and May, depending on when one started. By the end of May, it was expected that every PA that had internship a year ago should finish by that time. And by June we were done and then we have registered. So we started making follow ups, to the MoH as well as MMDCEs. But all that we were told is our list is not with them yet; it’s yet to be verified.

“So without wasting much time , we made some follow ups to the Medical and Dental Council, we got our names verified and then in the month of June, and early part of July, we submitted these verified list to the MoH of Health and then they also confirmed receipt of the list, that is in the month of August.”

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com