With the country’s largest hospital – the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation – experiencing a severe shortage of nurses, the Government is hoping to address the situation soon.

According to GPHC’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Robbie Rambarran, the hospital is short of approximately 700 nurses. 

At a press conference on Tuesday, Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony said the Government is cognizant of the situation and is working to increase the number of nurses in the country through training, and also the hiring of nurses from abroad.

It was explained that the Ministry of Health is working with a number of its partners, including the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), to develop a staffing plan to address its human resources needs as well as the issue of migration even as it increases the number of hospitals in the country.

Minister Anthony said the plan includes the decentralization of training programmes for health professionals and the continued implementation of a hybrid training programme which allows nursing students to do their theoretical studies online and their practical sessions at simulation centres in nine of the 10 Administrative Regions.

“Next year, we intend to graduate, once they pass their exams, another 3,050 persons in different specialties of medicine, and while we would graduate that 3,050 persons, we currently have another 3,740 persons in training, and next year, we intend to take in another 3,000 persons in various programmes,” he said.

The Health Minister admitted that even with a high intake of trainees, the training programme for professional nurses takes three years, and the majority of the nurses would not graduate until 2026. As such, there would be existing gaps in the systems. To fill those gaps, the Ministry would import nurses from countries such as Cuba. 

“So just like how we are losing persons to migration, we would have to explore the possibilities of people coming in and working in Guyana, those who are desirous of doing so,” the Health Minister explained. 

Amid the nurse shortage, the government is in the process of constructing a number of health facilities including six new regional hospitals in Bath, No. 75 Village, Diamond, Lima, De Kinderen, and Enmore. 

The Diamond, Enmore and Bath Hospitals are expected to be completed by March while the other three hospitals would be completed by June. According to the minister, the hospitals would be fully functional, and would be staff with a blend of existing, imported and newly trained nurses. 

“No. 75, we are replacing Skeldon Hospital with No. 75 Hospital, so there is existing staff there. So, those staff would come across, plus we will supplement because we will be doing more services now. Similarly for Fort Wellington, Fort Wellington staff would go across to the hospital next door, Bath, and so, we are supplementing. Diamond, same thing. The Diamond current hospital that we have will go to the new facility and we will supplement. So, it is not all of them that we need totally new people. So, we will be supplementing,” he said. 

Additionally, approximately 1,000 nursing assistants are expected to enter the system to give support to nurses.

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