ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the exodus of health professionals from Ghana to mainly Western countries (brain drain) that took place from the 1990s to the mid-2000s, and the efforts by the government of Ghana and stakeholders to arrest this phenomenon. Brain drain, according to Mutume, is said to occur when a country becomes short of skills because people with such expertise emigrate. According to the International Organization for Migration, at perhaps the height of the brain drain in the early to mid-1990s, Africa lost one-third of its human capital, including over 20,000 doctors, university lecturers, engineers, and other professionals. In Ghana, the brain drain resulted in a severe shortage of health professionals and maldistribution of the remaining staff, and it contributed to the poor health indicators at that time. In 1998, the government introduced the additional duty hours allowance (ADHA) to compensate health professionals for long hours of work.
