Nurses head overseas to complete critical-care training

The United Kingdom and China have answered the call by Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton for bilateral partnership to boost the training of critical-care nurses. He had made the appeal in January 2017 at the World Health Organization's summit in Switzerland.

"I am happy to announce, Mr Speaker, that a year on, we have signed not one, but two, bilateral agreements with our partners - China and United Kingdom (UK) - where our Jamaican nurses will train for a part of their advanced training here in Jamaica and then go on to Chinese and UK hospitals with their local tutors to complete their clinical rotation, Mr Speaker," Tufton told the House while making his contribution to the Sectoral Debate yesterday.

He noted that, currently, Jamaica did not have sufficient hospital space to provide practical training.

Eighteen nurses are scheduled to depart for China next month, along with five tutors, and the minister said that the UK cohort would depart in October. According to Tufton, this programme would increase the training of critical-care nurses by 100 per cent.

"We have been told by our partners that this may be a prototype for future training, because one country cannot do it alone and there is a shortage of medically trained personnel globally, not just in Jamaica," the health minister said.