GPHC finalising accommodation for 300 Cuban nurses amid shortage – CEO

In response to a critical nursing shortage, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is in the final stages of preparing accommodations for 300 Cuban nurses who are set to join the healthcare workforce in Guyana.
Preparations for the 300 Cuban nurses’ arrival include ensuring that the necessary accommodations are in place to support their stay.

GPHC’s Chief Executive Officer Robbie Rambarran last week said that the hospital is working closely with local authorities to ensure a smooth integration process for the Cuban nurses, including orientation programmes and cultural exchanges.
The arrival of the Cuban nurses marks a step toward addressing the immediate staffing crisis at GPHC.
According to Rambarran, the initiative will also strengthen the country’s medical sector, which has been under immense strain due to an ongoing shortage of qualified nursing staff.
“There’s another strategy of bringing nurses from Cuba to Cuban Brigade. There are nurses that are already here. There are about 300 nurses more that will be coming soon while we are finalizing their housing, their accommodations,” the CEO said.
There are currently 33 Cuban nurses employed at the public hospital.
GPHC’s nurse’s deficit currently stands at 700 nurses, and the move follows a bilateral agreement between Guyana and Cuba aimed at addressing the challenges within Guyana’s healthcare system.
Commenting on the current situation at GPHC, Rambarran noted that while a shift should have about six nurses, often times there are just about three because some are not on time, leaving doctors to fill in and complete some of the duties of nurses.
The CEO explained the hospital has been utilising certain strategies such as training, with about 1,000 registered nurses in training.
“I don’t think it’s a mass migration like before. From the last we checked, many of the nurses who have exited the institution did not migrate. But they work at other hospitals and there are other companies that have their in-house medical care”.
“So, it’s not that people are, the nurses are migrating like before. But one of the strategies is training, which we have the hybrid training program and there is about a thousand RN that is currently in training. And then there are the nursing assistant program that is in training. This building that we are in is actually, the reason for this building that we are renting is for training. It’s particularly training of nurses,” he added.
Despite these challenges, nursing administrators at GPHC are committed to addressing the workforce issues by focusing on professional development, in-service education, and clinical training.
Addressing the nursing shortage at GPHC is not only a matter of improving working conditions for healthcare professionals but also ensuring that the hospital can continue to meet the healthcare needs of the population. (G1)