Overseas-based Guyanese nurses to be incentivized to return home, President Ali says

President Irfaan Ali on Wednesday pledged that thousands of Guyanese nurses who left the country for higher-paying jobs abroad could soon return home under lucrative incentive packages, if his party secures another term in the Sept. 1 general and regional elections.

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Speaking at a People’s Progressive Party Civic campaign meeting in Alexander Village, Georgetown, Ali said he expects many overseas-based nurses to be back in Guyana before 2030.

“Within the next five years … 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,” he said. He noted that pharmacists, doctors and teachers have already begun returning. “They’re coming back because we are building stronger and better, and Guyana today is a land of opportunity.”

The announcement follows public backlash earlier this year over the government’s decision to hire foreign nurses on higher salaries than local staff. Although salaries for nurses and other medical professionals were increased in 2022, many still left for jobs in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The shortage has also affected other Caribbean nations. Barbados has turned to hiring nurses from Ghana, while Dominica has rehired retirees to fill gaps.

At the opening of the 52nd Annual General Meeting of the Regional Nursing Body in Bridgetown, Barbados, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Assistant Secretary General Alison Drayton warned of a critical regional shortage of nurses and midwives. Citing the State of the World’s Nursing Report 2025, which found that one in seven nurses globally work outside their birth country, Drayton said this trend strains health systems in low- and middle-income nations.

“This dynamic poses significant challenges to the development and sustainability of health systems in low- and middle-income countries like those within our region,” she said. “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.”