Time for an enhanced incentive package for our nurses

Dear Editor,

This week is designated International Week for Nurses. It is a fitting time to reflect on the contribution of nurses to health care delivery in Guyana.

Our nurses are deserving of much more recognition and respect than is being accorded them by the authorities. They work long hours under difficult and challenging circumstances.It is time for the remuneration package for nurses to  be enhanced to correspond with the importance and nobility of the profession. For too long our nurses in the public sector have been subsidizing the health sector by working for salaries that are way below their true worth. In addition, they do not benefit from duty-free concessions, even though many put their safety at risk by having to find public transportation after completing night shifts. I think the Government should, as a matter of urgency, put in place an enhanced incentive package for our nurses which should include  better salaries, duty-free concessions, subsidized housing or house lots and opportunities for further training.

This will help to reduce the high rate of exodus of our nurses in particular those with years of experience and who would have completed their contractual obligations.

I take this opportunity to salute our nurses on the occasion of International Week for Nurses.

Yours faithfully,

Hydar Ally