One hundred and twenty nurses from the Republic of Ghana are scheduled to arrive in Antigua and Barbuda next weekend, as the government takes steps to address staffing shortages within the public healthcare system.
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The nurses are expected to arrive on January 23, according to Director General of Communications in the Prime Minister’s Office, Maurice Merchant, who made the announcement during Thursday’s post-Cabinet media briefing.
“Cabinet welcomed the arrival of 120 nurses from the Republic of Ghana,” Merchant said, adding that they “will serve within the public health care system of Antigua and Barbuda.”
Merchant said the nurses will be deployed mainly at the Celeste Bird Medical Centre, with others assigned to community health clinics, schools and additional health institutions across the country.
“These are highly trained, qualified individuals coming out of Ghana,” he said. “Most of them are experienced nurses and they are expected to make an impact within the healthcare delivery system in Antigua and Barbuda.”
He explained that the additional nursing staff is expected to ease the burden on existing healthcare workers, particularly as the country continues to experience the loss of local nurses to overseas recruitment.
“On a weekly basis, our nurses migrate,” Merchant said. “Our nurses are being poached because of their standards, because of how qualified they are.”
Merchant noted that the recruitment of Ghanaian nurses is part of a contractual arrangement between Antigua and Barbuda and Ghana, and represents one component of the government’s broader response to workforce shortages in the health sector.
“Importing of nurses from Ghana is one aspect. Training is another aspect,” he said, pointing to ongoing efforts to train local nurses through the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus.
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While reaffirming the government’s long-term goal of achieving self-sufficiency in healthcare staffing, Merchant acknowledged that immediate measures are necessary to maintain service delivery.
“There is a shortage,” he said. “The government believes that in order to make sure that the health care system remains able to provide the service it intends to for the public of Antigua and Barbuda, there is the need for nurses.”