MONTEGO BAY, St James – The Ministry of Health and Environment is seeking a solution to the shortage of public health inspectors that has plagued the profession for years.

“We need to attract and retain these professionals in light of the expected exodus of our experienced inspectors due to retirement,” said Minister of Health and Environment Rudyard Spencer, to the association’s 63rd annual educational conference at the Iberostar Rose Hall Suites last Tuesday.

Spencer said the ministry had embarked on a $100-million training programme for various categories of workers, which will see 40 of the required 130, undergoing training next year.

Outgoing president of JAPHI, Basil Wright, also highlighted the problem, noting that 500 officers who were employed nationally 25 years ago had dropped to 300. He further noted that while efforts have been made to train officers, over the past four years 40 promising officers had migrated to greener pastures.

Minister Spencer said data, provided by a team from the University of the West Indies and Dalhousie University undertaking a study of human resources in health in Jamaica, revealed that the programmes in public health inspection are undersubscribed.

At the same time, between the 2004/05 to 2006/07 academic years, the number of applicants accepted for the public health inspectors’ bachelor’s programme stood at 119 but the number of graduates was only 37.