The pending pay cut still weighs heavily on the minds of nurses across the country, even as they celebrate international nurses day today. And with nurses being severely overworked and understaffed, the Ministry of Health and Wellness is trying to ease that burdens by encouraging young men and women to join the profession by awarding fifty scholarships. These scholarships will be for the practical nursing program at the University of Belize for the semester beginning August 2021.
And while the gesture is appreciated, the president of the Nurses Association says it's only a small token when compared to the frustration and strain that nurses endure every day. He explained that while these scholarships are a step in the right direction, it does little to encourage those in the program to want to stay and practice in the country since the cons outweigh the meager benefits.
Darrell Spencer, President, Nurses Association
"We do have a major shortage of nurses in Belize and that is across most countries as a matter of fact and 50 scholarships being awarded to Belizeans… I don't want to sound as though we're unappreciative of that move but I don't like to rejoice when we reinvent the wheel. Since I know myself in nursing, there was always scholarships for nurses until the university took over the education of nurses in the country. That portfolio was handled by the Ministry of Health and the government but I applaud them to now go back to that status and funding program for nurses across the country for the country's good. Without these scholarships, nurses would have to take on loans and their parents struggling to pay for them and you come out with a salary that's less than that of the rest of the world, which gives the reason why nurses have been migrating after they finished their programs. We have a shortage not because we don't train enough nurses, we have a shortage because the pastures are greener on the other side, and we are not training enough to full all that gap."
"If you look at what has been happening to the country over the years, Belize has been experiencing what we know as a brain drain when it comes to the nursing profession where we have thousands of nurses outside of Belize practicing, trained right here in Belize. This by the government, it's a good step toward getting people trained and it will have a short term redemption effect because you get a scholarship then you must commit to work for some years to cover that bond you basically have, a contract. It's a very short term fix because again if you come out, yes you'll admit that you'd love to stay in the country and work for two or three years but afterward you become a free agent so to speak and you would then want to move to a place where you're better compensated so the government has to, at some point in time, really get serious about the compensation and retention of nurses, not just the attraction."
Spencer went on the detail only some of the pressure nurses must work under and added that with these issues in the system, it's no wonder that young nurses prefer to leave the country. When asked for some motivational words for those who dream to join the profession, he said he could not find any.
Darrell Spencer, President, Nurses Association
"There's a long list of what you can do, but there's a short list of what you shouldn't do. And you cannot cut salaries and tell the nurses that they now need to stay. They need to fix things in the department, they can stop the ridiculous transfers of nurses across the country, where it is not necessary. The nurse already have their mortgages and bills in that specific district. By you taking them to punish them for something they may have said or because you don't like them and you send them to another district and they have to incorp additional expenses, they get frustrated and they leave. For you to have a nurse/patient ratio of more than five or six patients to one nurse, that is not good, that frustrates the nurse, they are overworked. The World Health statistics says that you are supposed to not have anything more than four to five patients per nurse. At times we find ourselves with 9, 12, 15 patients for one nurse and these are the things that make you - I mean you're beat, you frustrate easily, you're stressed out and you want to leave. The salary is short and for the past two years the government hasn't been paying their unform allowances. A good shoe today cost the same allowance that the ministry is giving by the way, and not even that they've been doing. So additional stuff out the nurses pockets. The hospital stocking out of medications and materials that the nurses need to do a good job where the patients won't see the ministry, they see the nurse, they see the doctors, so we're the ones who take all the foul language and insult when the ministry stocks out of stuff like these. These are the things that frustrate the nurse in Belize."
"Over my thirty years in the field, the reason for us to continue encouraging young nurses to join the profession, the reasons are getting less, and yes I am the president of the association, but you're asking me a professional question. And I don't know what else is left to convince a nurse to want to do nursing in Belize. You do whatever job to make it better for yourself and you family and if the government continues to chip away and chip away of what you take home then ultimately there will be no grass here so we will have to start moving on the places where, you love your job, but at least you're compensated better for your services."
Spencer stated that a sit down with the ministry and the association to begin working out the kinks in the system would be a good place to start.
