THE Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has made a request for nurses to be brought in from Cuba to address the deficit that currently exists at the health institution.

This is according to the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Robbie Rambarran, who told members of the media at the GPHC’s end-of-year press conference that there is currently a nurse deficit of approximately 55 per cent.

He explained that because of the existing situation, approximately 600 nurses are needed in order to meet industry standards. This means that in units such as the Intensive Care Unit, one nurse to a patient and one nurse to two patients in other departments is what is required. In other instances, the nurse-to-patient ratio increases to 1:6.

“So based on the industry standards, when we compute that with the number of beds we have, we are about 600 nurses short,” Rambarran said.

Against this backdrop, he noted that a request was made to the Ministry of Health for additional nurses from Cuba to assist in the short term.

He indicated that there are about 33 Cuban nurses already in the system.

Added to this, he stated that there were some 146 resignations this year as compared to 107 last year. During 2023, the hospital was able to recruit more nurses compared to 2022 and as such, there was a net loss of about 50 nurses.

Meanwhile, Director of Nursing Services, Sister Leslyn Holder stated that 2023 began with a total of 896 nursing staff of which 116 were on loan from the health ministry.

“Staffing at the end of November, and there is no change to current date, we have a total of 881 staff of which 148 are on loan from the Ministry of Health. Throughout the year, we had 86 new hires and two rehires. We had 146 resignations,” she said.
With the resignations, Holder indicated that there are gaps in areas such as patient care, which has increased the need for additional support.

Earlier this year, President Dr Irfaan Ali had said that Guyana like many other Caribbean nations is faced with a shortage of nurses and as such, the country would be looking to Cuba for short-term support.

At that time, he noted that he had met with nurses from the GPHC who had reported that they were doubling up on shifts as a result of the shortages.

Dr Ali indicated that nurses are needed in the short term and as such, they would look to Cuba, a long-time partner for assistance. It was said that the increased capacity in training is more of a medium to long-term solution.