The government of Grenada will, early in 2020, be contracting between 30 to 40 nurses from Cuba as a temporary measure to help fill vacancies within the healthcare systems.

This is part of a short-term measure adopted

by health administrators aimed at reducing the impact of nurses who are taking

up jobs overseas.

Grenada’s Health Minister Nikolas Steele said that the Government is currently finalising arrangements for the nurses following the visit of a delegation to Cuba a few weeks ago.

“This is a stop-gap measure,” he said while

admitting that over the years, nurses with experience are leaving the system.

“Unfortunately, we are losing our nurses to

first world countries,” he said.

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However, he did not say how many nurses

have left the system in most recent times.

Besides Cuba, Steele said that Grenada is also

looking to import nurses from Ghana and India.

While the Government will be importing the

qualified registered nurses and those who are highly qualified, Steele said

that 50 persons who are desirous of becoming nursing assistants will commence a

one-year training through one of the certified national training centres of the

National Training Agency.