...Thousands of nurses to be incentivised to return home

GEORGETOWN (CMC):

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

Late Wednesday, during a campaign meeting ahead of the September 1 election, Ali said once his party is returned to office, many of the overseas-based Guyanese nurses would return before 2030.

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

“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 a backlash after deciding to hire foreign nurses and pay them lucrative salaries compared to their local counterparts.

Although nurses and other medical professionals’ salaries were increased in 2022, they still opted to take up offers mainly in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The exodus of nurses is not confined to Guyana, recently, the Barbados government hired Ghanaian nurses, and in Dominica retirees were rehired to fill vacancies.