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Nurses deserve flexible contract option, recommends the Jamaican Health Minister

Jamaican Health Minister recommends flexible contract option for nurses to work abroad while also serving Jamaica. Find out how this proposition could address the global shortage of nurses and improve working conditions.

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Dr. Hon Christopher Tufton, also commonly referred to as the Minister of Health and Wellness has advised that those nurses looking to shift abroad for work should get a flexible contract such that they could work for Jamaica as well. 

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During a press briefing and unveiling of the National Nurses’ Week, Dr. Tufton gave a speech. The day was organized to celebrate International Nurses’ Day on 12th May at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel. 

He expressed how he was ready to formulate a policy that complimented the hospital needs in Miami but also in England. There were around 130 nurses that had migrated to UK the last year. “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…” he said. He requested the medical establishment of either country offer a flexible contract because the need for their skills is equal in both places. 

These kinds of propositions, according to the minister, were the future of the medical world. 

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Talking about the shortage of nurses globally, he gave the idea of how nurses should have the opportunity to go for clinical rotations in West Indies or in Miami, wherever they wished for. Collaborating for training is the key.

If Jamaica had to retain their nurses’ workforce, then it was important to ponder the ‘bigger vision at play.’ 

The Government has been working towards implementing efficiency through a novel digital health information system and enhancing the infrastructure of the local hospitals that improves working environments of the medical staff. 

“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,” he stated. This is how he feels healthcare workers can have more motivation to stay and work better.

He concluded with how the system was being thought of considering the challenges COVID-19 brought along. It is all about thinking of a healthier and brighter tomorrow with a strong medical world and nurses as the biggest contributing factor to it. 

JM
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