Nurses to be incentivised to return home, says Guyana president

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – President Irfaan Ali says thousands of overseas-based Guyanese nurses who left for higher salaries could soon begin returning home to take up lucrative job offers.

Speaking late Wednesday during a campaign meeting ahead of the September 1 election, Ali said that if his party is returned to office, many of these nurses would return before 2030.

“Within the next five years, all the nurses who left are going to come back, because what we are going to give our nurses here will make it make no sense for them to be anywhere else,” he declared.

“They’re coming back because we are building stronger and better, and Guyana today is a land of opportunity.”

Earlier this year, the government faced backlash after it decided to hire foreign nurses and pay them significantly higher salaries than their local counterparts.

Although the salaries of nurses and other medical professionals were increased in 2022, many still chose to accept offers abroad, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The exodus of nurses is not unique to Guyana.

Recently, the Barbados government hired Ghanaian nurses, and in Dominica, retired nurses were rehired to fill vacancies.

Meanwhile, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Assistant Secretary General Alison Drayton told the opening of the 52nd Annual General Meeting of the Regional Nursing Body (RNB) in Bridgetown, Barbados, that the region continues to face a critical shortage of nurses and midwives.

Citing the State of the World’s Nursing Report 2025, Drayton noted that one in seven nurses globally is practising outside the country of their birth. She said this highlights a growing dependence on foreign-born nurses in high-income countries.

“This dynamic poses significant challenges to the development and sustainability of health systems in low- and middle-income countries like those within our region. Accordingly, it is imperative that the region substantially increase its investments in the education, recruitment, and retention of nurses and midwives to safeguard the resilience and effectiveness of our health workforce,” Drayton said.

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