FIVE CHINESE DOCTORS and three nurses will be deployed at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) by yearend under a joint agreement with the Government of Barbados.
Acting Minister of Health Senator Patrick Todd said the QEH helped to identify the areas in need to “enhance clinical and technical skills” and “explore best practices in health care delivery”.
The exchange will be for two years, on six-month rotations.
Online readers shared their views.
Lenard Blackman: There is no need for any Chinese or any other doctors or nurses to come to the Caribbean; we don’t need their help or their skills. The Caribbean has some of the [best] well trained doctors and nurses in the world.
FirstLady Alexander: As long as they are in the business of saving lives and are serious about saving lives, doesn’t matter to me where they are from. Caribbean integration and choosing doctors from the Caribbean mean very little to the family or the patient lying on his deathbed at the QEH.
David Gill: I assume that since they are importing nurses into Barbados, that all the persons who have studied nursing at the Barbados Community College and passed the registration exams are employed. I mean work permits are supposed to be granted when you cannot find suitable qualified persons locally to do the job. As for the doctors, I assume they will have to pass the certification exams that have been recently imposed to protect the public and the health care system.
Raymond Jones: Globalisation is a great thing; would be even better if they could replace all the rude and unprofessional staff at QEH with imported workers.
Marcia Ainah-Anagor: I would rather Japanese for their expertise, orderliness and professionalism and not Chinese, if there is a need for Asian influx in Barbados. I am half-Barbadian and I see how the Chinese and Lebanese are taking over businesses in Nigeria and treating their staff like second-class citizens in their own country.
Michael Patrick: What are their practices? Why not bring doctors from the Caribbean or Cuba? Why, why, why? Globalisation is great? For whom? Globalisation isn’t in our favour.
Stan Doughty: You all complaining about the staff coming in when you should be looking at the substandard facilities that already exist. Wake up, people of Barbados.
Geoffrey King: Do they speak English, or do we need to learn Chinese?
Sherrylyn Toppin is The Nation’s Online Editor.
