MONTEGO BAY, St James — Just over three months after Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton urged health-care workers who found jobs overseas to return home, he said his appeal is paying off.

“We’ve had a few inquiries and I’ve passed them on to the team. I don’t know what will come of it but I think it was important to just kinda test the market, make the offer to people who are Jamaicans who may be interested,” Tufton told the Jamaica Observer when asked for an update following his visit to Cornwall Regional Hospital last week Saturday.

In October 2025 the minister appealed to, in particular, specialised health professionals to return home and fill vacancies within Jamaica’s medical facilities. He explained then, that there were more than 1,000 vacancies in the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) — the result of a combination of factors including 500 nurses each year, on average, seeking jobs overseas.

“Whether they come now, or later on, for me it’s fine, as long as we provide [a chance] for our people to have that opportunity,” Tufton said Saturday of health workers who have expressed an interest in returning home.

“It’s one thing to recruit externally but I think we should give our people a first opportunity,” he added.

Jamaica has been recruiting health-care workers from a number of bilateral partners to fill vacancies within the system. Tufton said visits made to the US late last year had resulted in “a few inquiries” that he has also passed on to the appropriate channels. Efforts are being made to fill the jobs with both locals living abroad and foreigners and the minister thinks working in Jamaica is more attractive now than it was in the past.

“I’m driven by the fact that we are a country that has opportunities; those opportunities have gotten better,” Tufton declared.

“It’s a safer place to live, with crime reduction; better compensation in terms of the compensation review; building our new hospitals — Spanish Town, Cornwall Regional, University Hospital of the West Indies — better working environment,” he added.

All of those factors combined, he believes, will help make the case for all Jamaicans abroad — not just those in the medical field — who may be considering returning home.

“It’s only natural that we give opportunities for inward migration. The whole concept of inward migration is something that we will have to take on, not just in health but across the board in a country where the population is relatively stagnant and possibly declining. Because if you don’t have a labour force, you can’t move the country forward. So it’s a bigger conversation that we’re starting in health,” Tufton said.