Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said Jamaicans should begin seeing improvements in the health sector in the coming months as the Government makes progress in addressing the shortage of specialist nurses in the sector, which worsened when the country ended its medical cooperation with Cuba.

“I can see over the next few months where we will actually see some persons coming in that are not here locally, whether through the diaspora, through India, through Apollo or otherwise,” he said. “So certainly, for the rest of this year, the dynamics should change.”

The minister, who will be making his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in Parliament today, told The Gleaner last week that the island’s health system is hampered by a deficit of approximately 400 specialist nurses, but the Government has been exploring numerous avenues to fill the gap.