THE Ministry of Health and Wellness is recruiting 35 specialty nurses and several doctors from Ghana to address the country’s ongoing shortage of healthcare workers, according to Health Minister Dr Michael Darville.

The new recruits are expected to arrive by the end of April or early May, as the government works to fill vacancies and prevent burnout among existing staff.

“As fast as our healthcare professionals are recruited, we need to replace them,” Dr Darville said yesterday.

“And so, there’s a no-brainer. I cannot leave the services unattended to. And so, in order to prevent our nurses from going through burnout, I need to bring nurses in. In very short order, I will bring in 35 nurses from Ghana, most of them will be specialty nurses, and we will be bringing in some doctors from Ghana to assist us with the shortage that exists.

“This is what a good Ministry of Health does. We cannot leave the positions available because nurses and doctors are not sitting around. It takes us five years to produce an RN. It takes us sometimes up to seven to ten years to produce a doctor. So when we lose these expertise, we need to replace them, either by import or by training, and so we’re training, but the training takes time.”

This follows the arrival of 18 nurses from Ghana last November under a renewable two-year contract. Of those, three were assigned to Grand Bahama, nine to Princess Margaret Hospital, and six to the Department of Public Health.

Dr Darville acknowledged frustrations among Bahamian nurses awaiting regularisation, explaining that the process falls under public service rules and can be slow. However, he stressed the importance of filling vacant positions to maintain healthcare services.

The Bahamas Nurses Union, led by president Muriel Lightbourne and her predecessors, has repeatedly raised concerns about the large number of qualified Bahamian nurses still waiting for permanent positions.

“We are constantly meeting together. We meet with the nurses’ union. They have concerns. We try to address those concerns in a timely fashion, but the reality is, things take time. I think one of the things that we need to do more is probably meet more, but every time we meet, we outline exactly where we are and what’s going on, and we try to do our endeavour best to resolve these things in short order.”

Dr Darville also emphasised that the Ministry of Health and Wellness operates under public service rules, which govern the regularisation process for nurses trained at the University of The Bahamas.

“First of all, the Ministry of Health and Wellness falls under public service rules. Our nurses who are trained at University of The Bahamas, they come into our system, and they need to be regularised,” he said yesterday.

While he acknowledged that the process has not progressed as quickly as expected, he clarified that the ministry is not directly responsible, as approvals must be handled by the Public Service and the Public Service Commission.

He recognised the frustration this may cause among staff but encouraged qualified Bahamian nurses to apply, while also stressing that the primary need is for clinical nurses rather than administrative staff, as the system is already burdened with a top-heavy administrative structure.

In addition to hiring foreign nurses, the government is expanding local training efforts, as Dr Darville highlighted programmes at the University of The Bahamas, the Public Hospitals Authority Academy, and a new initiative at the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute in Grand Bahama.