KINGSTON, Jamaica— Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, is suggesting that nurses pursuing job opportunities overseas, opt for a flexible contract, which will allow them to continue working in Jamaica as well.

“I would like to see the day…when a nurse can work in Miami for three months and come back to Jamaica and work for two months…and I am prepared as Minister to put a policy in place to lobby with the hospital in Miami or in England where 130 nurses migrated to last year…and say to the UK government or to the hospital in Miami give them a flexible contract let them work up there and work down here because we need them…and we know that you need them too,” he said.

Dr Tufton was speaking during the International Nurses’ Day press briefing and launch of National Nurses’ Week, held at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St Andrew on May 12.

The Minister contented that this and other flexible arrangements “(are) and will have to be the future,” of healthcare.

“I would like to see the day and we’re working on it where a nurse can study at the University Hospital of the West Indies in the classroom and go to a hospital in Miami to do clinical rotation…We collaborate around training because the truth is there’s a shortage everywhere,” he argued.

Dr Tufton stressed that “there is a bigger vision at play” that will have to be worked out to retain Jamaica’s healthcare workers, especially nurses.

He reminded that the Government is implementing a digital health information system to increase efficiency; and building out the infrastructure of the island’s hospitals and health centres, which will improve the work environment for health care workers.

“What this is going to mean in principle, is that we want to offer more people positions in the system, not contract positions, permanent positions so that they work in a more predictable manner around hours of work (where) they get time to do other things including rest and they have guarantees around job security. That is going to make a better…more efficient (nurse/healthcare worker),” Tufton said.

He added that “we are building on the challenges of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and we are building for a better tomorrow and a more resilient health system, and you (nurses) are likely…to be the biggest beneficiary and rightfully so.”