Sir Lester Bird Medical Center
Staff at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre (SLBMC) have been advised to prepare to welcome a new cohort of medical professionals from Ghana, as Antigua and Barbuda moves to ease ongoing staffing shortages within the healthcare sector.
In a notice issued on behalf of the SLBMC Board of Directors and Management, it was confirmed that the country is expected to receive a group of Ghanaian healthcare workers in the coming days. The team includes Registered Nurses — some with specialised training — Laboratory Technologists, and Mental Health Officers.
According to the advisory, SLBMC is expected to benefit significantly from the initiative, with approximately eighty (80) Registered Nurses and two (2) Laboratory Technologists slated for placement at the country’s main public hospital. Other members of the cohort will be deployed across community settings, clinics, and healthcare institutions nationwide.
While the professionals will arrive shortly, hospital management stressed that they will not immediately begin clinical duties. Instead, they will undergo orientation and onboarding processes over the coming weeks to ensure they are fully integrated into the local healthcare system and aligned with SLBMC’s standards of care and workplace practices.
The Board and Management acknowledged that Antigua and Barbuda’s healthcare system has been under sustained pressure in recent years, citing staff shortages, increased workloads, and burnout among healthcare workers. The arrival of the Ghanaian professionals is expected to provide much-needed relief, strengthen healthcare teams, and improve both service delivery and staff well-being.
Hospital leadership emphasized that the incoming professionals are highly trained, qualified, and experienced, and will be joining SLBMC as colleagues and partners in care.
Staff were encouraged to extend a warm, respectful, and professional welcome to the new team members, with management underscoring the importance of teamwork, mutual support, and collaboration as the institution continues to serve the national community.
The notice concluded by thanking existing staff for their continued dedication, resilience, and commitment during what has been a challenging period for the healthcare sector.
A very myopic approach to the problem.
What is being done to retain your local nurses?
Listing a few options….
1. Pay your local nurses a living wage so they are not told by banks they cannot afford mortgages on their own
2. Offer incentives. Do not leave them floundering on their own to acquire land. They can be offered government lands at discounted rates loans and at preferred interest rates. This can be done after at least a 5-year commitment to the country, where citizenship and other requirements are necessary.
3. Provide an avenue for relief via duty-free imports on certain goods.
4. Give Job security. As of today, MSJMC nurses DO NOT earn a pension, while their counterparts in the clinics do.
Hmmmm, weren’t these options in place before???? What happened🤷🏾♀️
And you wonder why we are FORCED to leave for greener pastures???
P.S. See above for ALL essential service workers
Finally some relief for the nurses who are overworked and exhausted.
Equipments are needed as well to assist the old and new nurses. Let’s not act like this won’t be a problem…..
Welcome to the Ghanaian professionals. Antigua is home now — do your best and we appreciate you
We shouldn’t wait until crisis to fix healthcare, but this is a good step
I wonder how much these nurses will be getting paid and what is the arrangement. What’s in the MOU. Is it the same as what existed with Cuba?
Please make sure housing and working conditions are sorted so we don’t lose them fast.