Cabinet Approves $800K for SLBMC Upgrades and Nursing Incentives Following Director’s Report on Progress

CABINET NOTES: The Cabinet invited the Director of Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre (SLBMC) (Ag.), Dr. Shivon Belle Jarvis, to give a report on her findings since assuming the post.

The Director, who was Head of the SLBMC Pediatrics Unit, noted that the neonatal mortality-rate for Antigua and Barbuda is relatively lower than several other islands in the Caribbean.

The Antigua and Barbuda rate is 5.4 deaths per one thousand live births. Antigua and Barbuda has surpassed its 2030 SDG goal of no more than 12 per one thousand.

The Director spoke of the need for increased staffing and replacement equipment at the SLBMC. The Cabinet agreed to provide 800,000.00 USD for the most acute equipment needs. In order to provide more nurses, the SLBMC will provide incentives for young men and women to pursue careers in nursing.

Those who are enrolled in UWI Five Islands Nursing Programme will be offered scholarships of a greater amount than that of other disciplines which are already saturated.

The SLBMC will also encourage students who are in Fifth Form and are planning to select a career, to be encouraged by monetary incentives to choose nursing.

The proposal is to have a short, medium and long-term plan since it takes four years to grow new nurses. The director provided a capital-assets-needs list; a second CT Scan Machine is among the equipment that will be immediately purchased.

The Doctor was applauded for her integrity, high level of efficiency, and for bringing very useful changes to the SLBMC.

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