Some 2,480 candidates who attended the Ministry of Health and Wellness Career Expo and Employment Fair from Wednesday, January 22 to Thursday, January 23, have qualified for second and third-level interviews.

Over 600 jobs were advertised, and these individuals were given the opportunity to fill the vacant positions in the health sector.

While speaking at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the Minister of Health and Wellness, Christopher Tufton, outlined that the ministry hosted the fair to ensure that the human resources in health are sufficient in numbers and competencies.

“The goal of the initiative was to increase the interests of the public in pursuit of careers in the healthcare field, thereby increasing the available professionals for public health service delivery as part of the bigger plan to support more infrastructure build-out, more jobs through compensation review, and the need to address the increasing sick profile of our population,” Tufton said.

“We sought to expose the public to the career options available in healthcare so as to influence their decision on career-level education or tertiary-level education, expose the various areas, professional groups, and pathways that could lead to becoming a specialist, and also provide an opportunity through the job fair to fill vacant positions that exist currently,” he added.

The fair targeted students at the end of their secondary education, community colleges, and tertiary-level education institutions who were interested in various careers in healthcare.

Tufton outlined that the event had, over the two days, close to 12,000 Jamaicans participating. Also, 92 high schools and six tertiary-level institutions attended.

“The second component of the event was the employment fair, which saw some 2,907 persons screened for the available jobs across the public health system,” he said.

Tufton further exclaimed that over the last seven years, issues affecting human resources for health have had a significant impact on health service delivery. These include the migration of staff, particularly specialists from the health system, and the inability of the sector to replace these skills adequately and effectively.

“On average, some 500 nurses per year have left the public health system since 2018, including specialist nurses. At the same time, the need for non-clinical specialist staff is also a major concern in the health system. It is for this reason that the ministry has invested significantly in the training of medical physicists, biomedical engineers, health infrastructure specialists, and other specialists,” he emphasised.

Tufton highlighted that the retention levels for these officers are very low and that they are in high demand internationally and by the local private sector. “These competitors sometimes outbid the compensation package of the government to secure the trained skills identified.”