GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Guyana government said Friday that it will seek to recruit 200 nurses from Cuba next year as the country moves to deal with a shortage of locally trained nurses.
Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony, speaking at an end-of-year news conference, told reporters that 80 Cuban nurses had been recruited this year to help ease the shortage and that the ministry will next year try to recruit more while simultaneously reducing the workload of nurses in the system.
“As you know, we have a problem with attrition of nurses,” Dr. Anthony said, noting that several solutions are being pursued, including recruiting 200 nurses from Cuba, who should be in Guyana in early 2024.
“In the past, we weren’t bringing a lot of nurses (from Cuba), we were bringing more doctors, but now we have asked the Cuban government for more nurses,” Dr. Anthony told reporters.
The health authorities said that a three-month crash course is being done to help Spanish-speaking nurses from Cuba integrate better locally.
On Thursday, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) said the hospital has an overall deficit of about 600 nurses for optimum patient care. GPHC’s chief executive officer, Robbie Rambarran, said 107 nurses resigned in 2022.
Dr. Anthony said efforts are underway to help reduce nurses’ workload, noting that many nurses are involved in non-clinical duties, including simple tasks such as taking items from one place to another.
The health minister said the ministry is willing to hire personnel to do non-clinical work so the nurses can focus on their clinical duties.
Dr. Anthony said an estimated 4,000 nurses are needed in the coming years as the government builds new hospitals and facilities nationwide, the authorities increase salaries, and training programs are expanded.
Dr. Anthony said 1,100 people are currently undergoing nursing training, and next year, the health authorities hope to recruit another 1,000 to 1,200 people for training.
“There is no way out of this except to train people and bring them into the system,” Dr. Anthony told reporters.
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