-local training being ramped up to cater for long-term needs, says Minister Anthony

MINISTER of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, has said that the government is working to mitigate the shortage of nurses that exists across the country’s healthcare system.

He made this disclosure on Friday during an end-of-year press conference which was held at the ministry’s Brickdam head office. His comments came a day after it was stated that the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is in need of some 600 nurses.

The hospital’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Robbie Rambarran, had said during a press conference that a request had been made for nurses to be brought in from Cuba to address the deficit that currently exists at the health institution.

Minister Anthony, in his remarks, emphasised that efforts are being made to increase the number of nurses in the system.

“So, as I said, we do have a shortage and we have to work to mitigate that shortage. We can’t get a nurse overnight, so, we have to train people and we have embarked on that,” Dr Anthony said.

According to the minister, some 1,100 persons are currently enrolled in the hybrid nurses training programme which started last year.

He indicated that the first batch will complete their studies in three years.

“This is the plan. We want to train at least a thousand every year for the next four years. Once we are able to do that then we will have enough nurses for the system that we are designing and we will continue training,” Minister Anthony said.

Additionally, he indicated that there is no way out of the shortage, except for increasing training and bringing persons into the system. While there is also the registered nursing programme which he added lasts for three years, there is also the nursing assistant programme which takes a year.
The nursing assistant programme, he said will see some 1,000 persons entering the health system by the end of 2024. This type of increased training he explained will continue to fit whatever need there is in the current system.

“So that’s one set of measures we have and we can’t shortcut that because we can’t compromise how we train people and what they need to know,” he emphasised.

However, in the short term, to add to the system and boost the current stock of nurses, the government is looking to recruit nurses and bring them into the system.

Against this backdrop, he said that mainly doctors were brought into the country through the programme that Guyana has had with Cuba.

However, he said, they have now asked the Cuban Government for nurses to aid with the shortage currently being faced in Guyana.

As such, he revealed that early next year, at least 200 more nurses are expected in Guyana as part of the request made.

Meanwhile, the minister further noted that they have conducted an audit on what nurses are required to do as part of their duties.

Giving an example, he said that a lot of nurses at the GPHC do a lot of non-nursing duties and as such, as part of that audit he would’ve said that they should separate clinical and non-clinical functions and hire ordinary persons to carry out the non-clinical duties.

“When you separate that out… get the nurses to focus on clinical functions and the non-clinical ones we will hire regular persons who can fulfil those jobs in the non-clinical sense,” he said.

By early next year, he said the execution of this type of separation will be seen and according to him, it will mitigate some of the immediate needs that exist.

Dr Anthony added that, according to a manpower audit, about 4, 000 more nurses are needed for the new health structure that is being built.