KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Ministry of Health and Wellness says Jamaica has cemented a partnership with the Philippines to tackle human resources for health, with the signing of a communique with the University of the Philippines Manila (UP Manila).

Dr Christopher Tufton, minister of health & wellness in a statement on Tuesday, said: “The partnership will see remote and face-to-face training of Jamaican registered nurses specialising in a range of clinical practices by faculty from the Philippines. Those nurses will then then do a short stint of clinical rotation in the Philippines. This will address the challenge of the shortage of Jamaican faculty and clinical rotation space.”

“The partnership, which is intended to develop training programmes with UP Manila’s College of Nursing and the Philippine General Hospital, will also see the training of trainers to enhance the country’s capacity to expand offerings on the island,” the minister added.

The ministry said the communique represents the first fruits of a Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between the two countries in January, when the Secretary of Health for the Philippines, Dr Teodoro Herbosa, visited the island.

Speaking at a press conference in the Philippines following the official signing ceremony Tuesday morning, Dr Tufton welcomed the partnership with the university and the hospital while affirming the value of the Jamaica-Philippines collaboration.

The collaboration has its genesis in the common vision to provide global leadership on expanding training for healthcare workers, shared by the minister and Secretary Herbosa in the halls of the 77th World Health Assembly a year ago.

“What we have conceptualised and are developing is a sustainable model of working together to expand faculty, to train trainers who are Jamaicans and, of course, other opportunities to train more Jamaicans in the specialised nursing areas, in the first instance,” Dr Tufton said.

“What that will do is allow more Jamaicans to be qualified in the various specialised areas such as oncology, paediatrics, and critical care, to work in our hospitals and support the people of Jamaica,” he added.

It also demonstrates, the minister noted, what is possible with South-South cooperation.

“It shows that South-South cooperation is possible when we share a common vision. You [the Philippines] are 115 million, we are three million but nevertheless we can show leadership. What we are doing is very important because it is saying to world that unless we collaborate around expanding the pool of healthcare workers, it is going to be very lopsided and there is going to be inequity in how we treat with the citizens of the world in their respective countries,” the minister said.

The Philippines trains some 10,000 nurses each year, has 87 public hospitals and more than 300 additional facilities that are run privately or by the municipal authority.

The country is one of the largest providers of nurses globally, with their professionals employed to health teams in places such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Pacific Region.

Minister Tufton has been in the Philippines where he has been working on solutions for prevailing human resources for health challenges and participated in the 7th Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety.