Health Minister Dr. Duane Sands said he believes that there is satisfaction in terms of the arrears owed to nurses, even though there are still some outstanding payments to be made.

“Certainly with pay day this month, we believe that it will be a little bit better. I would hate to be premature and to say that we expect that the nursing leadership will happy or satisfied, but what I can say is that I am satisfied that my ministry, the Permanent Secretary and her team have  done all in her power to ensure that the Ministry has done what it is supposed  to do,” Dr. Sands said.

The Minister also added that the Ministry has made significant headway in the appointment of recently graduated registered nurses.

He  added that appointments were definitely completed at the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA)  and they are just about completed with the appointments at the Department of Public Health.  

This comes a few weeks after the Bahamas Nurses Union expressed challenges with the  PHA  and the government on a number of issues.

Shortly after,  the BNU was denied a strike certificate which lead the union taking their issues to  Prime  Minister  Dr. Hubert Minnis  in hopes of achieving a peaceful solution.

The Minister made these comments to reporters prior to the  weekly Cabinet meeting  yesterday.