First batch of relief nurses to arrive first week of Dec

A BATCH of operating theatre nurses is set to arrive in Jamaica between December 1 and 6, to begin working at the Noel Holmes Hospital in Lucea, Hanover.

The nurses’ arrival is part of an ongoing initiative by the Ministry of Health and Wellness to address the acute shortage of specialist nurses on the island.

In making the disclosure on Thursday, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton explained that the plan is to have a batch of nurses arriving every week, but that is dependent on the outcome of discussions under way with diaspora groups.

The health minister also disclosed that there are more than 100 expressions of interest to expand nurses’ training overseas.

“We have signed two MOUs, one with the University of Miami, where we are now trying to develop a joint course for advanced nurses’ training which will see our nurses being trained here and there, whether through clinical rotations, simulations or faculty exchanges,” Tufton said at the contract-signing ceremony for the Codecare Project, held at the Ministry of Health and Wellness in New Kingston.

Under the project, the health ministry has engaged four private medical institutions in a public-private partnership to reduce the surgical backlog by a minimum of 2,000 cases over a 12-month period, and also reduce wait time for elective surgeries to less than 180 days.

The private medical facilities are Winchester Surgical and Medical Institute, Heart Institute of the Caribbean, University Hospital of the West Indies, and Medical Associates and Andrews Memorial hospitals.

Tufton noted that there are people who have been trying to access the healthcare system for years, citing at least one person with whom he is familiar waiting for six years to have a hernia surgery.

“One can only imagine the pain and suffering that Jamaicans are undergoing. If you have to wait so long then you can’t afford it; because if you could, you would go into the private space to pay for it,” he said.

“A hernia surgery could cost you $300,000 or more, and many Jamaicans just can’t afford it,” Tufton admitted, adding that the impact of COVID-19 had caused the backlog of cases to reach between 7,000 and 8,000, and the cases selected for Codecare were those that had been waiting for a longer time.

In addition, some of the less complicated cases that require one- or two-day admissions have also been selected.