Jamaicans desirous of pursuing studies in the field of healthcare will be able to apply under the recently-announced $2.5-billion Dr Barry Wint Memorial Scholarship which will open for applications on Monday, July 8.

The scholarship was announced by the Minister of Health & Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton during his Sectoral Debate presentation in the Parliament in May.

The scholarship – named in honour of Dr. Barry Wint, a former chief medical officer – is open to Jamaicans pursuing studies in, among other areas, medical technology, human resources for health, medical social work, epidemiology, medical physics, health records management, hospital/health care management, information systems for health, pharmacy, dentistry, health economics, nursing and medicine.

“These are some of the critical groups that we need to fill the gaps in our human resource requirements. We cannot restrict the movement of labour, but we certainly can collaborate with other institutions and jurisdictions to train more people and hopefully share their skill sets between different institutions and jurisdictions,” Tufton said in announcing the scholarship on May 7.

“We have to do more to train and retain, including accepting that we also train for export, and this will have to include collaboration with external partners, including institutions outside of Jamaica,” the minister added.

Recipients stand to receive up to $1 million each for up to five years.

Applications can be accessed online via www.moh.gov.jm/scholarship. The portal will close on Wednesday, July 31.

Of note is that recipients will be bonded to work in the public health system for a period. 

Additionally, the health and wellness ministry is exploring the possibility of flexi-contract arrangements for healthcare workers to be trained jointly across jurisdictions and institutions. Overseas clinical rotations and remote faculty for expanded training in these medical areas are also being examined.