Barbados Minister of Health and Wellness, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic, has disclosed the first batch of nurses they will be recruiting from Ghana is about 78.
He is leading a delegation to the West African country from 13 to 26 August to supervise the recruitment process as well as understudy the Ghana health system.
“Initially, we are looking to recruit about 78 persons,” Lt Col. Bostic told the media after a cabinet meeting to finalise the deal.
He added: “We will come back and see how that works because obviously there are some things that have to be put in place for those nurses. . . accommodation and they will have to settle in . . . and as long as we are able to satisfy ourselves that all is well… then we also have to a request of the Ministry of the Public Service because we are requesting additional positions that do not exist at the moment.”
Lt. Col Bostic noted: “The delegation is expected first of all to examine especially through the Nursing Council representative, the system in Ghana in terms of certification and registration so that they are all on the same sheet of music and then the recruiting process will commence.
“We expect that we yield some good fruit from this exercise. […] Let me state that if we had the number in Barbados, we would not have to go anywhere at all. We considered looking within the region, and I believe that there is one country that has expressed a capacity. What we decided that we were not going to do is to try to recruit from our neighbouring countries that are in the same position as we are.”
The team heading to Accra will comprise, from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital – its Chairman, a board member who is also a member of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Association of Barbados (CTUSAB), the Director of Nursing Services and Director of Human Resources. From the Ministry of Health, the Chief Nursing Officer, a representative from the Barbados Nursing Council who is also a representative of the Barbados Nurses Association, will also attend.
Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo has promised to ship a maximum of 400 Ghanaian nurses to Barbados due to shortage in eastern Caribbean Island.
Source: Daily Mail GH
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