Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday defended the government’s plan to import 500 nurses from Bangladesh and assured that all imported workers for the public sector will receive the same salaries and wages paid to Guyanese.
He said claims that foreigners will receive higher salaries than locals are fake and conjecture by the APNU opposition.
“It is patently false.
“They don’t know the contract… any person recruited from abroad to work in the public sector, their conditions of service will be no better than what Guyanese get.
“It will be comparable to what our people get for the particular skill,” Jagdeo, who was speaking at a party press conference said.
In February, the government appointed a Bangladeshi agency – Sigma Engineers Ltd. – for help with the recruitment of Bangladesh healthcare workers.
To date, no one has been recruited through Sigma Engineers Ltd. Inc as shortages are currently being filled by personnel from Cuba.
Jagdeo said those persons coming from Cuba are mostly for the private sector but noted that the public sector is already facing shortages of healthcare workers and would soon need more healthcare workers with 12 hospitals currently under construction.
Jagdeo said it is this shortage that justifies the need for foreign workers, not only for healthcare but across all sectors in the public and private sectors.
“We can’t just build hospitals and leave them without staff,” Jagdeo noted.
He also drew attention to the PNC-led opposition history on public servants and said the evolution of wages and salaries and condition of service in the public sector made the greatest progress under years PPP/C was in office.
He said comments at the PNC press conference on Thursday, headlined by Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton show the fake love the opposition has for public servants when their track record is fact-checked.
“It’s crocodile tears.”
