Nurses in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) no longer want to spend extra hours at the district clinics to which they are attached.

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves pointed out that this is as a result of the 100 per cent mortgages which makes it possible for them to own a home.

He made the declaration while speaking as a guest on WE FM’s ‘Issue At Hand’ programme on Sunday, May 8.

The prime minister said, “When nurses were not able to get mortgages this easily they would have been very anxious to stay at the clinics, [but] they are not anxious to stay at the clinics now because the accommodations in the clinics are not near to the standard of their own home.”

As a result he said nurses are no longer at district clinics after 5:00 p.m.

“If you looking for somebody after five o’clock by the clinic, you are unlikely to find them,” the Prime Minister noted.

So, persons seeking medical care ‘after hours’ need to go to the nearest hospital.

“I want to see the nurses at the clinics longer,” Gonsalves said.

According to the prime minister, particular arrangements have to be worked out to have nurses at the clinics longer.