By Latonya Roberts
Journal Staff Writer

The Ministry of Health and Wellness commenced its new staff orientation for
nurses from the Republic of Ghana and the University of The Bahamas on
Monday.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Colin Higgs welcomed the
integration of Ghana nurses in The Bahamas.
“We are pleased at the ministry to those national and international nursing
professionals that participated in this workshop and orientation exercise. On
Sunday 19 th , November, 18 nurses arrived in The Bahamas from Ghana. This notes
an historic milestone for the ministry and it marks the first time that a group has
been recruited from Ghana to serve within the healthcare system within The
Bahamas,” Higgs said.
Director of Nursing Gina Dean said the government is working to provide
opportunities and conditions that allow Bahamian nurses to remain home.
“Things like compensation that is one of the big areas. We also look at the work
environment, we applied challenges with maintenance, to make sure that we have
everything that they need to practice. There are things that we are working on to
try and keep our nurses here because that is really the goal, to have your own
home-grown nurses working in the areas. We work with the Nurses Union to try to
look at compensation packages that will be a little more pleasing to the nurses,”
Dean said.
Registered Nurse from Ghana Elizabeth Boatemaa expressed her gratitude for the
opportunity to practice medicine in The Bahamas.
“Like the song writer said when you dream, dream as big as the ocean it might
come true. We dreamt big and today it has come true. We give glory to God for
bringing us all the way from Ghana to The Bahamas to support the health service
in The Bahamas. We are grateful to God,” Boatemaa said.
The Ministry of Health continues to work diligently to improve their nursing
program.