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Dear Editor,
The recent uproar surrounding nursing staff shortages and the solutions being developed does provide an opportunity for constructive discussion to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution. We must first address two basic questions and their related issues:
1. Why do shortages occur and how can they be prevented?
2. What temporary measures can we take to prevent shortages from negatively impacting patient care?
The current nursing shortage is caused by nurses leaving our shores for a better standard of living and a shortage of new trained nurses entering the healthcare industry. Additionally, the growth of the industry due to the construction of more hospitals has increased the demand for nursing staff. Opposition and ruling party leaders have touched on these issues briefly, but they deserve a closer look.
It would be beneficial to take advantage of opportunities for collective bargaining with unions representing nurses and health care workers. It will allow for the establishment of a comprehensive compensation package, from basic salary to benefits such as pension and housing, which will help improve the living standards of our healthcare workers. Thereby making our healthcare industry more competitive and attractive to workers regionally and globally. If local workers benefit less from uprooting their homes and going elsewhere, they will stay.
The current unemployment rate among University of Guyana graduates also provides opportunities for current and future graduates to enter the healthcare industry. Providing additional coursework opportunities and broadening course offerings to allow for transition into the industry will help to quickly fill current shortages and provide much-needed employment opportunities for graduates.
The temporary solutions provided by the government do have their benefits, but we must ensure that we provide the sector with healthcare workers who meet the standards required by the sector. This can be achieved through testing and training of future medical immigrant workers before allowing them to serve in the sector. Bangladesh ranks lowest according to The Economist Health Inclusion Index (December 2023). Taking resources away from Bangladesh will only exacerbate their current problems and cause harm to the people of Bangladesh. We should consider top-ranked health care systems as a temporary source of human resources. This will allow us to fill current gaps while also providing the opportunity to learn from the best in the field, who can also train current and future caregivers as our supply catches up with demand. The establishment of the new French embassy certainly provides such an opportunity. Governments, universities and local healthcare alliances deserve to work together to develop a comprehensive plan with input from the French government to address workforce shortages.
The end result of these actions should be to improve the care provided, implement newly learned best practices, and build a local pipeline of healthcare professionals to meet the current and future needs of the sector.
Sincerely,
Jamil Chanley
President
Guyana Cooperative Republican Party
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