FOREIGN NURSES will again be recruited to work in Barbados when the new $160 million private hospital opens here in another two years.
Work on the facility, to be built on the site of the old St Joseph’s Hospital in St Peter, should begin within the next six months. It’s set to open between late 2013 and early 2014.
Dr Paul Angelchik, chairman and chief executive officer of American World Clinics Ltd (AWC), the company spearheading the project, said bringing in foreign nurses would be necessary as Barbados did not have the full complement of nurses that this hospital would need.
“We will hire Barbadian nurses where possible at all levels, including leadership positions,” he said.
“At the same time, we recognize there is a shortage of personnel in some fields, just as in the United States, and our objective is to staff our facilities with the best people without depleting the talent pool available to existing institutions in Barbados.
“So we may be bringing in some foreign personnel for education, clinical and leadership positions if we can’t fill a position locally. Likely sources would include the US and the Philippines,” Angelchik told the SUNDAY?SUN in an email interview.
“Overtime and with success in the global health care services sector that AWC represents, I think we’ll see a greater supply of qualified RNs [registered nurses] staying in Barbados and the region rather than seeking opportunity elsewhere.”
Angelchik noted, however, that this would be a process which would be impacted by the demands of an ageing population in the developed world.
“[This] will only make the need for nurses greater over the next several decades,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, Angelchik, a Phoenix, Arizona-based plastic surgeon, has given the assurance that local doctors would have a key role to play at the new facility.
“A core component of our business plan is recruitment of local high quality physicians and surgeons. With the addition of a cutting edge facility incorporating the newest medical technology, many of the excellent doctors on the island will be able to raise the level of service they can offer as they will no longer have limited access to the best tools,” he said.
About 225 people are expected secure full-time jobs when the first phase of the facility, which will include a multi-speciality surgical hospital, multi-disciplinary ambulatory care clinic, dental clinic, and health and wellness facility, is completed.
