Omanghana
Ghanaian medical graduates in Cuba have appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to facilitate their return home, citing repeated travel postponements, unpaid allowances and concerns about delays to their professional training.
Speaking on Citi News Digest on September 19, 2026, the group’s president, Raphael Oteng Boakye, said they had completed their studies on July 22 but were still awaiting a confirmed departure date.
He said their initial journey, scheduled for August 28, had been postponed several times. Proposed departure dates of September 3 or 4, September 7, September 9, and September 15 or 17 had also failed to materialise.
Oteng Boakye said the uncertainty was affecting preparations for the next stage of their careers. According to him, the graduates expected to undertake a six-month clinical attachment in Ghana before sitting their medical licensing examination.
He warned that further delays could postpone their entry into the country’s healthcare workforce.
The graduates also reported mounting financial difficulties, alleging that six months of stipends remained unpaid. Although they had been informed that funding for four months had been made available, they said the payments had not reached them.
They further claimed that an annual book allowance of US$360 had remained outstanding for about five years.
Oteng Boakye said expired health insurance had made accessing healthcare difficult for some members of the group. Their student identification cards had also expired on August 31, while unreliable electricity and water supplies at their residences added to their hardship.
The group had engaged the Ghana Scholarship Authority and Ghana’s diplomatic mission in Cuba, but said those discussions had not produced a definite travel schedule.
Alongside arrangements to bring them home, the graduates requested payment of outstanding allowances and government support for their first medical licensing examination attempt.
Source: Omanghana
