According to press reports, more than 700 nurses in Jamaica have left for jobs overseas since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton reportedly told the House of Representatives that he is expecting the pace of the exodus to increase.

“[A]s the pandemic subsides, and the short-term economic shock takes hold, we will have a stronger migration pull, we believe, on our nurses and our health care workers. We do have health care workers that are world-known as being excellent and the demand for them…will only get greater and the impact on our system will be even more severe if we do not take some corrective measures,” he warned.  

The Minister also noted that there has been increased funding to the ministry in the last 24 months to help with some of the human resource challenges.

He said the ministry has been able to expand posts within the system.

“We have been able to establish 230 new posts for medical officers and more than 1400 posts for community health aides and these are not in most cases contract workers. Certainly, as it relates to the doctors, we have established these posts and it means an expansion of personnel in our health system,” he said.

Support The Readers Bureau Buy A T-Shirt Today https://www.bonfire.com/one-love-72/?fbclid=IwAR2bod-XSyrCPutOwG_SMnKiInk6Bqe2kCtjBsAFISqHluQcujrF2UUkFew

Readers Bureau, Contributor

Edited by Jesus Chan

Do you want to add feedback to this story?

Please add a comment in the box below or send an email to info@thereadersbureau.com,  Call us at 201-500-7715