Healthcare workers being sourced from home and abroad

• Wells suggests engaging nurses from Cuba would pose “language issue”

• CPSA welcomes announcement to shore up resources

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — As cases of the coronavirus continue to climb amid a shortage of healthcare workers who continue to be impacted, the government is actively seeking to shore up its resource of nurses from home and abroad.

According to Minister of Health Renward Wells, the government was working with the nursing board to have 54 student nurses sit their final exams at the end of this month.

He said those who pass will be hired.

The government also plans to source nurses from abroad — “whether they are from India, from the Philippines, from Israel”.

Wells said The Bahamas has previously engaged Pilipino and Indian healthcare professionals and it was a “normal course of business that The Bahamas has been doing even before we became an independent nation”.

But the minister said if Bahamians were willing to return home and assist in the national effort against the pandemic, the government will engage them.

He said: “I know there were a number of overtures that were sent out to the international community prior to COVID because there was a need for some 100 nurses prior to COVID from what I am understanding. So, we are moving on that track.”

As of August 19, 72 healthcare workers at various healthcare institutions tested positive for COVID-19, according to data provided by the Ministry of Health.

Up to early August, well over 200 healthcare workers were potentially exposed to COVID-19 and were temporarily out of the healthcare system.

Wells was asked if the government would look to Cuba for assistance.

He said while the Ministry of Health is looking for an “immediate injection of individuals”, he did not know whether those nurses would be sourced from Cuba because of a “language issue”.

“There is a language issue there and we wouldn’t want to seek to compound our problems anymore in the health system, other than what we already have because we are seeking to be able to address the issues with COVID as best as we can,” the minister said

Cuba sent more than 2,000 doctors and nurses to at least 23 countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East as of May as countries appealed for doctors.

Among those countries were Lombardy, Italy — the epicenter at the time.

Cuba also sent a reported 473 doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers to eight Caribbean countries in April, including 140 to Jamaica, 113 to St Lucia and 101 to Barbados, among others such as St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda and Monsterrat.

However, the United States has urged its allies to reject Cuba’s medical aid missions.

When asked whether the issue of a language barrier arose with Indians and Israelis for example, the health minister said citizens of India, a former British colony, speak “very good English” as do citizens of the Philippines, which he pointed out was a US protectorate.

“And so, the language; both of those nations are very fluent in English as we have come to realize and know,” Wells said.

Cuba is a former Spanish colony and former US protectorate where English proficient is required for all high school and university students.

Additionally, Wells advised the government plans to hire 29 doctors as SHOs (senior house officers).

Welcome

When contacted about the sourcing of additional healthcare workers, Consultant Physician Staff Association (CPSA) President Dr Sabriquet Pinder-Butler said the pronouncement was welcomed.

The CPSA met with Wells and the prime minister last week.

Pinder-Butler said the association once again made the recommendation during the meeting and were advised the government was in the process of seeking to secure additional nurses and increase the staff complement of healthcare workers.

“We work as part of a team,” she told Eyewitness News.

“So, that is very important to us.

“I think at this point in time, obviously we always want to make sure that persons have qualifications that are certified and they’re able to mesh as best as possible with our culture, all things considered. But we also appreciate that there perhaps there is a global shortage of nurses; perhaps and physicians generally, because I think some countries are actually recruiting actively.

“So, we appreciate is we are able to source additional healthcare providers.”

As to where those healthcare professionals are sources from, Pinder-Butler deferred to the Bahamas Nurses Union.

Bahamas Nurses Union President Amancha Williams could not be reached for comment.