By Ruth Serwaa Asare
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Association of Banks, John Awuah, has disclosed that nearly 70% of medical doctors who secure personal loans from local banks and later emigrate fail to repay their debts.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Business Edition with George Wiafe on October 9, 2025, Mr. Awuah described the development as a growing concern for the banking sector. He noted that medical doctors, who are often perceived as credible and responsible professionals, have become a significant source of loan defaults.
“Let me tell you, we have heard of doctors. These are on the moral pecking order. When you see a medical doctor, you almost 100% assume that they are not fallible. They don’t make mistakes, and things like borrowing and payment will come to them naturally,” he said.
He explained that many of these doctors take personal loans from local banks, often between GH¢120,000 and GH¢150,000, before travelling abroad to work, leaving their financial obligations behind.
“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,” he disclosed.
According to him, although these doctors are gainfully employed in foreign countries, many do not make any effort to settle their outstanding debts in Ghana. “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 added.
Mr. Awuah expressed concern that such behaviour from respected professionals is eroding trust within the banking system. “These are medical doctors, people we hold in high esteem, to the extent that at some point we were even attempting to write to the embassies to seek clearance from banks before they allow visa processes to go through,” he said.
He further revealed that the Ghana Association of Banks is in discussions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explore possible diplomatic interventions to curb the situation.
“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,” Mr. Awuah explained.
