Gov’t Announces $2.5-Billion Scholarship to Train Health Sector Professionals

The Government has announced a $2.5-billion scholarship fund for the training of more professionals in the health sector.

Making his contribution to the 2024/25 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on May 7, Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, said the Dr. Barry Wint Memorial Scholarship and Development Fund will be offered over five years at $500 million each year.

The awards will be open to Jamaicans who are pursuing studies in the areas of nursing, medicine, public health, medical technology, epidemiology, health records management, hospital/healthcare management, information systems for health, pharmacy, dentistry and health economics.

The scholarship will begin September 2024, and further details are available on the Ministry’s website, www.moh.gov.jm.

Dr. Tufton said the Ministry will also be exploring overseas clinical rotations and remote faculty arrangements to expand training for health workers.

“Unfortunately, we can’t just recruit; we have to now take a vested interest in training and retaining,” he noted.

“We can’t be buying diagnostic equipment, digitising and have no one to operate them. We can’t not have people who can do the analytics… in order to tailor our response to the population. And so, this scholarship is intended to solve that problem,” he added.

Dr. Tufton said that the Ministry is exploring the concept of flexi contractual arrangements involving institutions outside of Jamaica.

“We have experience… of Jamaicans working part-time in the developed markets and part-time in Jamaica. Why can’t we do it for a nurse? In other words, if we could establish a flexi contract where a nurse could work five months in the United Kingdom [UK] at a hospital and seven months in Jamaica, the Government should be prepared to give them a contract for the seven-month period so that they enjoy the best of both worlds,” he pointed out.

“Because I do believe that most Jamaicans would prefer to reside here, but if they can earn a little extra money somewhere else, they will do it on a part-time basis and then come back home, and we’re going to be exploring that,” he added.

The Health and Wellness Minister said the country will continue to collaborate with other jurisdictions in the health sector.

“We have to do more to train and retain, including accepting that we also train for export, and this will have to include collaboration with external partners, including institutions outside of Jamaica,” he said.

He appealed to institutions to take some time to adjust, where necessary, the approach to training.

“We have started that conversation but we are going to have to find creative ways to get more people, more human resources in the system who have the transformation mindset,” he said.