434 nursing professionals graduate from local nursing school

… “workforce with empathy needed” – Health Minister

The Georgetown School of Nursing (GNS) on Tuesday accomplished a significant milestone, with a total of 434 health care professionals receiving certificates and diplomas in several medical fields, the largest batch of students to graduate from the institution. This number comprises of 201 Registered Nurses (RN),36 Post Basic Midwives, 26 Single Trained Midwives and 171 Nursing Assistants.
This year’s graduation marks the school’s 33rd Biennial ceremony, where scores of young professionals have received certification to provide services in the public health sector. The graduation exercise was hosted at the National Cultural Centre.
Delivering remarks at the event was Chief Medical Officer (CMO), at the Health Ministry Dr Narine Singh. Singh highlighted that in 2020 Guyana was producing just over some 200 Nurses. This amount he noted has significantly increased due to investments made by the government in the healthcare sector over the years.
“We are graduating 434 students today, that is only from the Georgetown School of Nursing, we still have the New Amsterdam School of nursing. Prior to 2020 Guyana could’ve only produce 250 nurses and that was not adequate, we needed to expand the nurses training programme and so we only had three schools at that time. Today we have the training programme in several regions.”
Dr Narine noted that the expansion of these programmes is part of the Health Ministry’s effort to decentralize services. As such he noted with the transformation happening in the healthcare sector the Health Ministry will have to train some 3000 nurses within the next three (3) years.
“We have a task to train at least 3000 nurses within the next there (3) years, taking into consideration the migration that we all experience, this is not unique to Guyana most of the Caribbean Countries are experiencing migration. So, we have to train and cater for the migration so if at least 50 per cent leave we will still have a significant amount remaining.”
Moreover, Dr Narine told graduates that their line of duty will not only require them to treat patients but they will also have a responsibility to comfort these patients during these challenging moments.
“Nursing not just a profession it’s a calling, it’s a path that requires not only knowledge and technical skills it is more than administering treatment or following protocols. It’s about showing compassion offering comfort, listening with a deep sense of empathy and becoming a beacon of hope during some of the most challenging moments in people’s lives.”

Empathy
Also present at the event was Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony who echoed similar sentiments. He explained that the Health Ministry is moving to build a workforce that has empathy as a core principle. In this regard he stressed the importance of healthcare workers displaying positive attitudes when dealing with patients.
“Now, your role in the health sector is extremely important, because when someone comes into the hospital, or comes to our hospital or our health facility, in many instances, they are at a very vulnerable point, because they’re sick, they need attention, they need care. We are looking for is a workforce that has empathy, that would be able to relate to that person in a very humane way. We have some cases where some of our staff, maybe they had a bad day but not because you are having a bad day, you have to use that against the person that is before you.”
He added. “And I hope that the 434 persons that we are graduating here today, would be able to get that right attitude with our patients. Because that’s why we are in this business we are in this business to make sure that people, when they come to us, they can feel that we have a very good and competent healthcare system.”
Additionally, Minister Anthony reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment towards investing in educational opportunities for their staff. In this regard minister Anthony encouraged the graduates to utilize these resources and further their studies.
“We’ve been investing in, to make sure that we have good registered nurses and wives and so forth, we also want that those who are in the system, that they have opportunities to continuously learn. Because medicine is something that you can’t stop learning every single day, there is new information about a particular disease or something that is going on. We are making these investments because we want to lift the quality of care that we have in Guyana.”
Meanwhile, Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony during his debate presentation on Budget 2024 posited that the health sector is on the verge of this healthcare revolution. With an allocation of $129.8B in Budget 2024, the PPP Government is walking the talk of this revolutionary, transformative health agenda.
Among the programmes that Budget 2024 supports in the transformative agenda are the next-generation cardiology diagnostic and treatment services slated for GPHC, adding more services to those introduced in 2006 by the PPP. Outside GPHC, the Maternal and Paediatric Hospital would be commissioned in 2025, and would establish a much-needed paediatric cardiology service targeting the elimination of waiting time and the need to travel overseas for paediatric heart surgery.
Budget 2024 also caters for the construction of a Level 5 hospital in New Amsterdam, and that is slated to be completed by 2026, and would add a third advanced cardiology centre for heart disease diagnosis and intervention.