LETTER: Let Us Welcome Our Nurses from Ghana with Respect

Dear Editor,
As Antigua and Barbuda welcomed a new group of nurses from Ghana, I believe it is important for us as a nation to pause, reflect, and respond with maturity, gratitude, and respect.

Our healthcare system has long relied on international partnerships to address staffing shortages. For decades, Cuban nurses and medical professionals served this country faithfully, often under challenging conditions. Many of them worked quietly, professionally, and with deep compassion for our people.

Their recent departure has left noticeable gaps in our hospitals and clinics, and they deserve our thanks and appreciation for the service they gave to Antigua and Barbuda.

Now, as Ghanaian nurses arrive to support our healthcare system, they should be met not with suspicion or hostility, but with dignity and warmth. These nurses have travelled far from their homes and families to care for our sick, our elderly, and our most vulnerable.

They are professionals who have answered a call to service, not strangers to be blamed for systemic challenges that predate their arrival.

Public frustration over healthcare pressures is understandable, but it must be directed constructively. Nurses, whether local, Cuban, Ghanaian, or from any other nation, are not the cause of understaffing, burnout, or policy shortcomings. In fact, they are often the ones carrying the heaviest burden.

Antigua and Barbuda has always prided itself on being a welcoming, respectful society. This is a moment to live up to that reputation.

Let us show gratitude to those who came before, extend courtesy to those who are here now, and continue working toward strengthening and investing in our own healthcare workforce for the future.

How we treat those who come to help us says a great deal about who we are as a people.

Respectfully,

Natasha Southwell