by Linda Straker
- Agreement with Nigerian government for 9 healthcare specialists
- Government will continue to forge relationships with global partners for other healthcare providers
- Various opportunities will become available from proposed climate smart resilience medical complex
Health Minister Philip Telesford disclosed that the Government of Grenada has signed an agreement with the Government of Nigeria that will see this country’s health system have Nigerian healthcare specialists offering their services.
“We have signed an agreement with the Nigerian government for some professionals, some specialists to come into our system. It is 9 or so specialists,” Telesford said during a news conference on 14 May, while responding to a question about the government’s plan to increase staff in the public sector healthcare system.
The health minister also said that the government will continue to forge these strategic relationships with global partners to have other healthcare providers take up opportunities in Grenada. “We recognise that we do not and will not have all of the resources here locally, so we definitely have to hire in resources that we do not have,” he said, explaining that one of government’s strategies to increase staff at health facilities include preparing locals to fill vacancies, “while we continue to forge alliances with our global partners.”
Telesford further made a plea for more Grenadians, especially young people, to prepare themselves to take up the various opportunities that will become available directly and indirectly from the proposed climate-smart resilience medical complex envisaged “to become the medical destination of choice for the Americas.”
“We also want to encourage our young people to sign up to take up opportunities that are available, and this medical city that we speak about is going to bring about serious economic benefits for the population, not just in medicine, but there are a number of peripheral services that is going to happen and additionally the economy is going to be buoyed out of that investment,” Telesford said.
Do these Nigerians go through a process of vetting BEFORE being hired?? Where have they been trained?? What terms are they coming under a ” work visa”? I hope you are not trading citizenship. Do they understand this is a tiny island and.are they considered government paid or you expecting them to be private charging more money than most Grenadians can pay? Who is on charge of hiring them to determine their qualifications??
Yes they go through the vetting process from the Nigeria Medical Council. They are qualified doctors who graduated prestigious universities in Nigeria and currently working in Nigeria hospitals. They are not trading citizenship. They are Nigerian medical volunteers going to Grenada to serve . They are government paid and no one is charging extra money than what the Grenada citizens can pay . The organization handling this program in Nigeria is called Nigerian Technical aid Corps .