The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Health and Wellness is partnering with the Ministry of Education to encourage more young Bahamians to pursue careers in allied health, aiming to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign workers and address long-standing shortages in the healthcare system.

As part of this initiative, the Health Professions Council will host its first annual Allied Health Careers Fair on Friday, April 4, from 10am to 2pm at the Ministry of Health. The event targets senior students and other Bahamians interested in entering the field.

At a press conference yesterday, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville described the promotion of allied healthcare professions as critical, noting that these workers — who include radiographers, physiotherapists, optometrists, audiologists, dietitians, and others — are as vital to the health system as doctors and nurses.

Dr Darville said the country, like many others, continues to experience shortages in these specialities and must recruit from abroad to fill the gaps.

“So this whole drive now is to get Bahamians interested in the careers so that we can start training in the short term, while we are beginning now to find the resources so that we can expand our healthcare workforce that will be able to populate these new clinics, new hospitals, and to be able to provide services to our people,” he said.

He also pointed to partnerships with tertiary institutions in New Providence and Grand Bahama to expand allied health training. He highlighted the Public Hospitals Authority Academy, launched in 2022, which has trained pharmacy technicians, patient care technicians, and clinical nurses. The academy will graduate its latest cohort next month.

Dr Darville added that the government is preparing to launch a new programme at the Bahamas Baptist University College for informatics-trained clinical nurse professionals and is finalising a curriculum that will lead to a pharmacy degree.

Education Minister Glenys Hanna Martin said the push is urgent, given the number of work permits issued annually for allied health roles. While specific figures were not provided, she attributed the trend to the lack of a sustained national training and certification strategy.

She said talks with BTVI are ongoing to help address the gap and added that the government intends to increase scholarships in this area.

“This is a big day, and we are grateful for this exposure, which we hope will lead to more long-term engagement for our young people and the building of capacity on a more permanent basis in our health care sector,” she said.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Pearl McMillan underscored the need to expand the allied health workforce and noted that the Health Professions Council does not yet regulate several professions.

“We have various other allied health professions that are currently not yet under the council,” she said. “Right, we actually oversee many of them, but we are going to have them actually regulated fully, in short order, as the regulations are updated.”

The careers fair is part of a broader effort to create a sustainable healthcare system that relies less on work permits and more on homegrown talent.