UHWI welcomes specialist Ghanaian nurses

THE University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) has welcomed two Ghanaian specialist nurses who have been assigned to the hospital as part of the Jamaica- Ghana Bilateral Health Cooperation Agreement. The nurses were welcomed to UHWI recently, where they were introduced to the hospital and the team they will be joining. The welcome included representatives from Nursing, Human Resources and other areas of the hospital, with senior officials including Sister Helena Thompson, senior director of nursing at UHWI, and Patricia Ingram- Martin, chief nursing officer in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, also in attendance. Sister Thompson said UHWI is pleased to have the nurses joining its team. “We are pleased to welcome them to UHWI and to Jamaica. They bring valuable skills and experience, and that expertise will strengthen the work being done across the hospital. We also want them to feel supported as they settle in, become part of the UHWI community and have an opportunity to experience Jamaica beyond the hospital and become familiar with the culture and community around them,” Sister Thompson said. The nurses were accompanied by members of the Ghanaian delegation, including Evelyn Amoako, head of delegation and acting chief nurse; and Joana Abaka Yamoah, nurse specialist, Ghana Ministry of Health. The delegation travelled to Jamaica with the first cohort of Ghanaian nurses under the bilateral arrangement. As part of last week’s welcome, the nurses were also shown the living accommodations prepared for them as they settle into life in Jamaica. The two nurses are among 43 Ghanaian specialist nurses who arrived in Jamaica in September as the first cohort deployed under the Jamaica- Ghana Bilateral Health Cooperation Agreement. The four-year agreement, signed in Accra in May 2026, provides a framework for the temporary deployment of Ghanaian healthcare professionals to Jamaica and for wider cooperation between the two countries in health workforce development and knowledge exchange. According to the UHWI, the placement of the two nurses marks one of the first direct outcomes of the Jamaica- Ghana agreement for the hospital and supports its ongoing efforts to strengthen its nursing complement.