This content was published on July 12, 2023 – 21:34

July 12, 2023 – 21:34

San Juan, Jul 12 (EFE).- Guyana’s president, Irfaan Ali, asked Cuba on Wednesday for an emergency supply of health professionals due to a shortage of nurses in the country.

“We are in talks now, for example, with Cuba,” said Ali, explaining that he held talks this Wednesday morning with the Cuban ambassador to Guyana to see if he could “get a Cuban nurse into the system immediately.”

“Just yesterday I met with some nurses from Georgetown Hospital and some are doubling shifts due to shortages,” Guyana’s president warned.

Additionally, Georgetown General Hospital officials warned that the hospital is struggling with a shortage of at least 600 nurses and nationally, the public health sector is running a deficit of at least 1,300 female nurses.

The President of Guyana assured that the South American country is experiencing the same shortage of nurses as other countries such as the United States, Britain or Canada.

In the same way, Ali emphasized that Guyana is not the only country in the region experiencing this shortage, as he verified other Caribbean countries are facing the same problem.

For this reason, he stated that Guyana’s strategy was to train more nurses “in the medium and long term” and could count on more professionals than the country needed.

Last December, the Government of Guyana increased the salaries of all categories of health workers. EFE

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