Hope, scepticism as Trinidad and Tobago doctors bound for Guyana

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar with Keoma Griffith, Guyana's Minister of Labour and Manpower Planning, on December 7 at the re-dedication ceremony for the Couva Children's Hospital. At right, is Minister of Health Dr Lackram Bodoe. - Photo courtesy UNC

A FIRST BATCH of around 50 Trinidad and Tobago doctors is bound for Guyana as part of a new partnership announced by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

Speaking at the re-dedication ceremony for the Couva Children's Hospital on December 7, Persad-Bissessar said, “Our plan was to have it serve as a centre for Caricom and the Caribbean but Guyana has made so many hospitals we are partnering with Guyana now.

“Guyana will hire doctors from Trinidad and Tobago because we have so many well-trained doctors and with all new hospitals open up in Guyana we are working on a partnership.”

She said advertisements for doctors’ applications will be circulated.

Leading up to her announcement, over GY$4.6 billion was invested in the country’s medical infrastructure. Including excavation work for a 50-bed hospital in the Moruca Region, set to include advanced X-ray and CT scan facilities, operational theatres, ophthalmology services, and an on-site oxygen plant for local production and dispensing.

Guyana's Minister of Labour and Manpower Planning Keoma Griffith was a guest at the re-dedication ceremony.

Remaining anonymous, one young doctor training in neurosurgery welcomed the intuitive, especially amid the challenges of the current market.

“At present, there are many junior doctors in Trinidad and Tobago unemployed or employed under locum contracts for short periods or extended without leave and other contractual benefits.

“It has been speculated that UWI has been producing too many professionals saturating many fields, including medicine, It has been proposed that there is a mismatch between professionals graduating and job availability in Trinidad and Tobago.”

He said the initiative, along with the rededication of Couva Hospital and the pending opening of the Central Block at Port of Spain General Hospital, will provide both job security and training.

Another young optometrist said the move could provide hope for those struggling to find stability in medicine.

“I have only had a handful of contracts in the past few years and I'm hoping that something can genuinely change. It’s not that there’s a shortage of demand, but the industry isn’t expanding as fast as the students are graduating.

“If Guyana needs doctors and they can offer a good salary many people will jump at the chance."

She expressed hope that the opportunities would be open to junior doctors and not only senior practitioners.

But the initiative is far from a cure-all for the medical industry.

Speaking to Newsday on December 8, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Registered Nurses Association Idi Stuart, said he expects the opposite effect for local nursing.

Acknowledging the excess of doctors within Trinidad and Tobago Stuart said the reality is much different for the nation’s nurses, with shortages in various specialisations.

He said while he doesn’t believe the government's medical partnership will recruit nurses, the indirect effect is inevitable.

“Yes, Guyana may seek to recruit some of our nurses and be looking to provide salaries that beat back salaries in Trinidad and Tobago, because we are working on 2013 salaries. That is something the Prime Minister doesn’t even have to get involved in, that will happen naturally.”

He said this will worsen existing shortages and lower the quality of care to patients nationwide and called for better management of medical training funding.

“It is something that we would have brought up with the Tertiary Education Minister Prof Prakash Prasad. Why are we spending taxpayers money in an area where we have an oversupply of. That funding to train someone for five years to become a medical doctor, some of that fund should be redirected to areas where we are short, which is nursing.”

Stuart said he did not think sending local doctors to Guyana was the best use of Trinidad and Tobago’s medical resources.

“We, as a country indicating that we have finance issues, should really be more judicious in terms of how we are training our citizens in areas where we don't even have facilities for them to operate in, and now we are looking for alternative areas.”