The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB), John Awuah, has disclosed that nearly 70% of medical doctors take personal loans from banks and leave the country without repaying them.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Business Edition on Thursday, October 9, 2025, Mr Awuah indicated that some doctors, after securing personal loans of about GH¢120,000 or GH¢150,000 from local banks, relocate abroad with the money and refuse to pay back, even though they have been working there.
“Do you know what doctors are doing to the banking system, particularly those who are offshoring their services, like migrating to other jurisdictions to work? They have bank accounts. They use your bank statements.
“They have, you know, personal loans. The bank will not ask you exactly what you are going to buy since it is a personal loan. They will come to a bank, take like, let’s say, GH¢120,000 or GH¢150,000, take a visa, and jump off and leave the loan hanging
“Wherever they are going, they are working there and earning, and one would think that as medical practitioners, they will just say, ‘I have a liability in Ghana, which enabled me to demonstrate that I can fund my travel, so let me come and settle. About 70% of them are not paying,” he revealed.
He also added that the Ghana Association of Banks is engaging the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to address the issue through diplomatic channels.
“There are processes we are going through with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact the diplomatic corps, since you don’t just wake up and write to them.
“We’ve already started. There’s a letter that is logged at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is trying to achieve that, but that is a reactive mechanism,” he added.
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