Francis: Local nurses world class

The Moruga/Tableland MP, on Thursday, gave the feature address at a symposium, “Positioning Nursing and Midwifery Leaders for the 21st Century”, held by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the University of the West Indies (UWI) at the UWI School of Nursing in El Dorado.

“How does it feel to be world class?” he asked the audience of nurse and midwife leaders. “Our system of nursing education produces the cream of the crop.” TT has trained its nurses so well that other countries try to “steal” them away, Francis added.

He hailed the highly successful training of nurses by UWI at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital which lacks proper facilities.

“I’m impressed that we can produce high-quality nurses without facilities.” Francis said the ministry has decided to try to rationalise this situation and have it more streamlined, so as to ensure quality and to make the lives of trainee nurses easier. (Asked later if rationalisation will mean cutbacks rather than expansions, he said “no”.) Francis said the ministry will have a review of local nursing with alacrity and consultation.

In fact, he has already met local nursing schools and will next meet Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, with the view of producing nurses of the same high quality as before but under more amenable circumstances.

Later on, asked how this country can retain nurses when other countries try to lure them away with big salaries, he said the GATE programme mandates students to work for a certain period.

Pressed on rationalisation, he said nursing schools overlap in the services they provide, but he vowed to consult before eyeing any changes.