Current and former Health Ministers clash over ongoing migration of Nurses

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony and Opposition Member of Parliament, Dr. Karen Cummings, went head-to-head in the National Assembly on Wednesday evening over the shortage of nurses in the country.

The Georgetown Public Hospital alone is in need of more than 700 nurses. With six new hospitals under construction, the Opposition Member of Parliament said the issue will become more problematic.

During her budget debate contribution, Dr. Cummings said although the Government is aware of scores of nurses leaving their jobs to take up positions abroad, it has not done enough to stop the hemorrhaging that is now affecting the health care system.

“It is not surprising, yet it is worrisome because the data shows that we have 23 nurses for every 10,000 citizens, these are the facts that the government hides from the Guyanese people so that they cannot recognize the risk that is involved in their medical care. Without enough nurses, no amount of cash grants will bring you to the care that you and your family need,” Dr. Cummings said.

According to Dr. Cummings, the shortage of nurses could have been addressed properly if the Government had taken the issue seriously from the beginning and find a way to properly compensate nurses and other health care workers.

“I want to state, that this is as a consequence of the decline in availability of healthcare assets and providers that this experience occurs. It is not a secret that primary healthcare must be the pillar of the nation healthcare strategy and should take center stage if universal healthcare is to be achieved. The national public health system has an obligation to deliver public services to the citizens of Guyana, regardless of whether they reside on the coastland or hinterland,” Dr.Cummings said.

The Government has been admitting more trainees to nursing schools and overlooking the graduation of more nurses.

Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony, while acknowledging the problem of the shortage of nurses, said it was the current Government that took steps to get more nurses trained and in the system.

“Mr. Speaker, they come here and they talk about Nurses, who you think increase the salaries for the Nurses—the People’s Progressive Party increase the salary for nurses and right now have three thousand and more persons who will be graduating soon from nursing, assisting nursing programmes and others. This year we are also going to take in another three thousand people,” Dr Anthony said.

Dr. Anthony said over 500 community health workers have also been trained to assist at the local level, even as he boasted about ‘remarkable’ success for his sector.

The Health Minister said healthcare in Guyana has been expanding and improving rapidly under his watch, with the support of the Government. He said there will be more expansion moving forward to ensure more access for more citizens.