ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, Minister of Health Senator Jonathan Laurette disclosed on Tuesday that the monthly EC$500 (One EC dollar=US$0.37) honorarium that will be paid to nurses next year is the Government’s way of deterring them from pursuing overseas opportunities.
Making his contribution to the 2023 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure debate in the Senate, he said the new administration was extending an olive branch to the healthcare workers, who he acknowledged had not been treated as they should over the years.
“We need you. You cannot leave. If you go, our health sector is finished. We understand that you want mobility upward, but we have not been able to provide that through successive governments over the years,” Laurette said.
“The olive branch was extended to tell them that you can’t leave us at this critical juncture in our healthcare cycle. I will repeat it – ‘nurses, we need you. Doctors, we need you. The situation is not the best. We understand that, but hear the cry of your minister. If you leave, we are crippled. If you leave, we are doomed. Allow us to value you and show you that you mean something to our system’,” he pleaded.
Over the years, Grenada has lost dozens of nurses and other healthcare workers to regional and international recruiters offering better wages, salaries, and benefits.
In his 2023 Budget statement delivered on December 5, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said his administration was taking concrete steps to address the health sector’s human resource capacity challenges.
“Of great concern is the mass exodus of our nurses. We have engaged the nursing fraternity and have listened to their concerns, including poor working conditions, job security, nurse shortages, and inadequate compensation. We will move swiftly to address the regularization of our nurses and the training of more nursing professionals,” he said before announcing the honorarium.
“As an immediate step in addressing the matter of compensation, we will pay all our nurses an honorarium of EC$500 per month, or EC$6,000 for the next 12 months, while we work towards a long-term solution. A sum of EC$4.2 million has been allocated for this initiative,” said the Prime Minister.
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