Gov’t Fast-Tracking Recruitment of Healthcare Staff

The Government is advancing recruitment for healthcare workers as part of medium and long-term measures to fill gaps in the health system following the end of the technical cooperation agreement with Cuba.

Addressing a virtual press briefing on Monday (March 9), Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, shared that just under 140 applications have been received from the Ministry’s diaspora job advertisement.

“We have shortlisted close to 70 specialist nurses from the diaspora but also beyond the diaspora, and those 70 are being scheduled for interviews through the Human Resources (HR) Department at the Ministry’s corporate office. So, in the coming week, week and a half or so, we will begin the process of interviewing, and the idea is to fast-track the engagement of those persons,” he said.

Dr. Tufton further indicated that the Government will begin to reap the benefits of its investment in the Barry Wint Scholarship this year.

He informed that 48 nurses and 33 doctors will join the workforce and will be bonded for at least three years.

Additionally, 100 nurses are currently enrolled in the specialist nurses’ programme. They will complete their studies in October and be promoted to their areas of specialty.

Dr. Tufton said that the Ministry will also assess uptake of its direct-contracting offer to Cuban healthcare workers. A total of 260 Cuban healthcare personnel are deployed to Jamaica under the recently concluded technical cooperation agreement.

He said that negotiations are advanced to conclude Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) agreements with Ghana and Nigeria.

“You will recall that the Ghanaian foreign minister was here recently. We had a communique, which indicated a strong interest. Ghana is one of those countries that has an excess of nurses. It’s a similar training protocol and we have signed off on the MOU [which] is now with them. We are encouraged by the feedback, and we believe that we would quickly turn that around over the medium term, within three to six months… and the same thing for Nigeria,” he informed.

Turning to the long-term plans, Dr. Tufton said that Cabinet has given approval for the Ministry to do direct recruiting through private recruiters.

“Over the course of the next financial year, we have gotten Cabinet approval to move to another level of our strategy around international recruitment. That decision is supported or bolstered by Cabinet’s agreement for us to establish an international recruitment unit within the corporate services division of the Ministry of Health and Wellness,” he advised.

The unit will serve as a central coordinating hub to all international recruitments, including under bilateral cooperation and within the diaspora.

It will focus primarily on recruiting for areas where there are gaps or shortages in the Jamaican health sector.