Ghana to Send 375 Qualified Nurses to Work in Barbados

By Rex Mainoo Yeboah

Ghana has agreed to send 375 Ghanaian nurses to Barbados to work in that country's government health facilities to ease the acute shortage of professional, and qualified nurses confronting its health sector.

The agreement reached between the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mrs. Mia Amor Mottley and Ghana's President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, came after the two leaders held bilateral talks last Friday at Bridgetown, Barbados, which formed part of the President's five-day tour of the Caribbean.

Addressing a press conference after a closed-door meeting, the two leaders agreed that the acute shortage of nurses confronting Barbados was imperative and that Ghana was capable of offering help in that direction.

Barbadian Prime Minister said, "We have indicated that we are searching for just under 400 nurses, so it is not a small number, and we really do believe that this is a wonderful opportunity of co-operation between our two countries."

In addition, there was also the need to initially secure the nurses and provide joint education programmes going forward, all in an attempt to secure Barbados' healthcare sector, she said.

On his part, President Akufo-Addo told the Barbadian Prime Minister that "we have a surplus of nurses in Ghana, and placing them all in our public health system is one of my headaches. There have been a lot (of nurses) produced, which, for several years, we have not been able to do anything with."

He assured that "So, I am going back. I will be back in Accra on Monday, and, the week after, the Prime Minister will hear from me on this matter of nurses."

President Akufo-Addo, who is Ghana's first leader to visit Barbados, had agreed with the Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, to reactivate a 2005 cultural, technical and scientific agreement signed between the two countries, which had been dormant for the past 14 years.

The discussions also touched on tourism and transportation and the two countries agreed to work on an air services agreement that would establish direct air links between the two countries, so as to boost trade and people-to-people contact.

On the issue of renewable energy, President Akufo-Addo expressed Ghana's desire to collaborate with Barbados, a country which is giant in that field, to increase her renewable energy component of the energy generation mix.

As a demonstration of the close ties between Ghana and Barbados, the President expressed his commitment to the establishment of an Honorary Consulate in Barbados, with Barbados set to establish a High Commission in Accra by the end of 2019.

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