The University of the West Indies (UWI), in collaboration with Ryerson University's G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, is to launch a state-of-the-art distance education nursing programme this month.

According to the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), approximately 35 per cent of nursing positions in the Caribbean go unfilled.

This shortage, PAHO said, is attributed in part to the high cost of learning, inaccessible learning institutions and brain drain.

Will enhance UWI's capacity

The distance education programme is expected to enhance the UWI's capacity to provide nursing education and make learning more innovative, efficient and cost effective.

Meanwhile, Edith Allwood- Anderson, president of the Nurses' Association of Jamaica (NAJ), yesterday urged the Government to provide more training facilities for nurses to meet the increasing demand.

"We have a list of persons waiting to be trained as nurses so we are waiting on the Government to expand the training facilities," Mrs. Allwood Anderson told The Gleaner.

Currently, there are two Government institutions, which train nurses - The Kingston School of Nursing and the Cornwall School of Nursing in St. James.

In addition to a lack of training facilities, Mrs. Allwood-Anderson also noted that there were inadequate nursing tutors.