Training Nurses for Export: Perspectives of Stakeholders in Ghana

Nurse unemployment has become a headache for many developing countries that are not able to absorb the nurses produced yearly. Because of that, some countries have resorted to exporting their services. Although the exportation of nurses by some countries has gained grounds, research on labour exports has not paid particular attention to the exportation of labour. Literature such as Abuosi & Abor (2015), Boafo (2016), and Anarfi et al. (2010) have looked at nurses and other health professionals’ migration in general, but little or no literature has specifically looked at the views of stakeholders on the training of nurses for export. This paper presented the views of stakeholders on training nurses for export by conducting in-depth interviews with some stakeholders at the Mininstry of Health (MOH) and Ministry Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) of Ghana. Five stakeholders were purposively selected. Analysing the views of stakeholders on the exportation of nurses, thematic narrative analysis was employed. The study found that training nurses for export helps reduce nurse unemployment and is an avenue for revenue generation for the government. Further, stakeholders revealed that in order for countries to export nurses, the countries should invest in the infrastructures. In order for sending countries not to fall short of nurses to serve the local health sectors, the government must increase the number of students admitted. Also nurses trained locally must meet the international standard, Therefore, attention must be paid to the content studied and the government must invest in the technological training of nursing students.