Nursing shortage crisis

HEALTH Minister John Rahael, although admitting yesterday that the provision of health care has been adversely affected by the shortage of nursing staff, assured that everything is being done, including the consideration of recruiting nurses from abroad to address the situation. He said there is a shortfall of 1,133 nurses in Trinidad and Tobago. There are 3,257 established positions for nurses in different positions but only 2123 were taken or filled.

The Minister was at the time responding to a question about the nursing establishments in the Senate. The question was asked by Opposition Leader in the Upper House, Senator Wade Mark. Rahael said there were places for 574 community nurses but only 313 were filled, while there were 121 established places for midwives with only 65 being filled. In terms of places at the nursing schools, there were 63 with 46 being filled. He said the shortage “adversely impacted on health care” at several institutions, including the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, where over the past two years the maternity wards had to be merged. At St Ann’s hospital, Rahael said the supervision of nursing students and subordinate staff were affected, while at the Sangre Grande Hospital, the paediatric ward had to be shut down. He said, however, that six Cuban nurses were sent to the institution to supplement the staff.

At the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Rahael said that based on services provided, 11 Cubans were assigned to the Intensive Care Unit for the reintroduction of open heart surgery. And at the Mt Hope Women’s hospital, he said the Birth and Neo-natal Units were severely affected by the nursing shortage and midwives and nursing students had to be used to provide health care. Asked if the recent deaths of babies were related to the shortfalls, he said he was not a pathologist, but categorically stated that “the lack of midwives” did not contribute to the deaths. He assured Senators that Government was determined to do all it can to address the problem and was trying to increase staff. He said the  additional problem of “improper tutors” created “half of the problem.” He said consideration will also be given to recruiting nurses from abroad, and efforts are being made to train more nurses locally. He also said that a two-year programme would be established at the University of the West Indies and 30 scholarships would be awarded annually over the next two years, as a means of encouraging persons to train as nurses.