Linden Nursing School still operational – Min. Anthony dispels claims that facility is closed

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony has dispelled claims that the Charles Roza School of Nursing in Linden has been closed.

During a visit to Region Ten on Saturday, Minister Anthony conducted a tour of the facility.

He clarified that while a hybrid form of learning is currently underway, the school is still operational.

“As you can see, the school is functional.  We have three nursing schools in the public sector: one at Georgetown Hospital, one here in Linden, and one in New Amsterdam. And instead of closing, what we want to do is expand the programmes, so… we’ll be looking at ways and means of how we can enhance learning in these facilities,” Dr. Anthony explained.

The hybrid training model is one of these measures and sees 180 students learning using a combination of online and practical sessions. Dr. Anthony said this mechanism helps to train more persons at a faster pace.

“The classroom space here can only accommodate maybe about 20 or 30 persons at any given time, but if you’re working from home, a lot more people can be trained. So right now, we are training, from Region Ten, 180 persons. And if we go the traditional way, we’ll just have maybe about 20 persons in the registered nursing programme. So, the nurses who are being trained in the hybrid nursing programme would require a space where they come to do their practicals. So, we’ll be having a room that is specially built to train people in the different processes that they have to do,” he said.

The minister further noted that at present, the intention is not to close down any medical learning institution, but to do the opposite, which is to expand and build capacity due to the need for medical personnel across the country.

Currently, around 20 persons are undertaking the registered nursing programme at the nursing school, with another 30-plus persons training to become nursing assistants, and another group enrolled in the single-train midwifery programme.

In addition to training persons at the Charles Roza School of Nursing, 38 persons from Region Ten will soon be trained in the Community Health Workers programme, where they will learn the basics of administering medical care over a six-month period.

The government will also train an additional 70 persons through the multi-laboratory technician and pharmacy assistant training programmes, which will be launched soon.