Barbados to Source Nurses from Ghana to Address Shortage at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Plans for Healthcare Expansion Unveiled

Barbados is again looking to increase its complement of nurses at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), and once again, the source will be Ghana.

Speaking during a Barbados Labour Party meeting at St Christopher Primary School which nominated Senator Dr Shantal Munro-Knight as the new candidate in Christ Church South recently, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley revealed that the decision to bring in more nurses from overseas was approved at last Thursday’s Cabinet meeting.

“We know we are short on nurses. Cabinet agreed that a team of six will go to Ghana yet again, to be able to allow us to bring in 112 nurses from there. I have agreed also to create in the nursing department, 142 registered nurses, 71 this year and 71 next year, to fill vacancies and increase the number of posts to ensure we have a better nursing ratio.”

She added Government may again have to charter a flight to bring the nurses from Ghana or any other African nation to Barbados, since it remained difficult for many of them to transition through the United Kingdom, United States or European countries.

Mottley said they were also in the process of creating the post of nurse practitioner and nursing specialists. “You should not have to go into administration to learn more in the nursing profession. If you are a good nurse, we want you to continue to be a good nurse and deliver services to the patients and the nursing profession,” she said.

The Prime Minister said it was no secret that the Accident & Emergency Department of the QEH needed continued beefing up. “We have agreed that between additional nursing assistants, nurses, departmental aids and orderlies, that six more doctors, we’re going to put them there.”

She also revealed she had done an inspection at the new Geriatric Hospital being built in Waterford Bottom, St Michael, and it should be completed around April or May next year.