With nurses ‘doubling up’ shifts, Guyana looks to Cuba for short-term help

Guyana, like many other countries in the Caribbean, is faced with a shortage of nurses and with some of these healthcare workers forced to “double up” their shifts, President Dr. Irfaan Ali says the country is looking to Cuba for some short-term support.

“One of the main issues facing the region now is the outward movement of nurses and health workers.

“Only yesterday I met with a number of nurses at the Georgetown Public Hospital… (and) some of them are doubling up on shifts because of the shortages,” President Ali told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

Because of this long-standing issue, the government is training 1,000 people annually through an expanded nursing programme that started this year.

Dr. Ali, however, acknowledged that training more people is a medium to long-term solution. For now, he said, more nurses are needed to boost the healthcare sector.

So Guyana is looking to Cuba, a longtime healthcare partner, to supply some nurses.

“The immediate term, for example, is to have nurses come into the system from external sources.

“… Up to this morning I had a long discussion with the Ambassador to see if we can get Cuban nurses to come into the system now in the immediate period to help fill that gap now, to fill the shortages that we have now,” Dr. Ali said.

But the shortage of nurses locally is only one part of the labour shortages gripping the country. Dr. Ali acknowledged that several sectors are in need of more workers.

This comes as Guyana, over the past few years, has experienced substantial economic growth linked to an expanding oil and gas sector. The growth in that sector is contributing to the development of other productive sectors.

The Head of State highlighted the government’s plans to get many more Guyanese trained through scholarship opportunities. The government, he said, is also helping more persons get trained and certified in technical and vocational areas.

Even with government’s efforts, however, Dr. Ali said people themselves must adopt different working attitudes, potentially working different shifts.