Molloy said there are incentives of up to $24,000 for full-time permanent positions in Bell Island, Bonavista, Burin, Clarenville, Carbonear and Placentia.
Taking a full-time position at a community clinic in Labrador comes with an incentive of up to $40,000.
Osborne said there are a total of 219 nurses graduating from three schools in the province this year. One-hundred-sixty-eight of them have accepted full-time nursing positions, 75 of those positions being permanent.
Money for travel nurses should be redirected: NDP
NDP Leader Jim Dinn said the provincial government has suppressed nurses’ demands and cut their benefits — so the latest news about the millions spent on travel nurses sheds light on a longstanding issue.
“How do we start putting that [money] into the system to entice nurses to stay in the system?” he asked.
Dinn said convincing nurses to come to Newfoundland and Labrador from places like Dubai won’t solve the underlying problems that are causing those already in the province to leave the system.
There are many issues with the current system, he said, including unfair compensation and poor working conditions and work-life balance that need to be addressed.
WATCH | Premier Andrew Furey says travel nurses were necessary during worst of pandemic:
John Harris, the director of external affairs, communication and research for Memorial University’s student union, said students complete 1,600 hours of unpaid labour for their clinical placements.
He said student nurses have already seen the issues within the system — and if it doesn’t change, nurses from abroad won’t stay either.
“Nursing students feel burnt out and unappreciated even before they become nurses,” he said.
“They are not being paid enough. They are stressed out and, of course, when there is an option to become a travel nurse, that is a lot more appealing.”
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