By Trudy Simpson, Staff ReporterIT WILL cost the Ministry of Health an additional $25 million over the next four years to honour a mistake which had resulted in students at two nursing schools being promised stipends for the duration of their programmes.
The Government had decided to stop stipend payments to nursing students as of September 2002, but problems started after an error was made in letters offering students a place in the programme at the Kingston School of Nursing (KSN) and Excelsior Education Centre's School of Nursing.
"Students, who started in October 2002, will continue to receive stipend until the end of their programme. The additional cost will be $25 million over four fiscal years," the Ministry said in response to questions from The Gleaner.
It stressed, though, that students who are entering nursing schools in the school year 2003 will not be given a stipend.
The letters assured students that they would get stipends as part of their programme. Stipends range from $5,000 plus to just over $11,000 per month, depending on a student's year of study. They are often used to help students with their monthly expenses.
In February and April 2003, when expected stipends were not forthcoming, students from both institutions complained to the Ministry.
First-year students at the Kingston School of Nursing wrote to Permanent Secretary, Grace Allen-Young, in February. In April, over 90 nursing students from Excelsior, angry at receiving half the expected stipend amount, protested outside the Ministry's King Street headquarters, downtown Kingston, before meeting with Ministry officials.
The Ministry later said it would continue to honour promises of stipends, which were made in error by the Kingston School of Nursing in its offer letter to students selected for the September, 2002 training programme.
It also promised to pay nursing students at Excelsior Education Centre (EXED) their overdue stipends and continue to pay first year stipends until the end of their programme. Both sets of students received some payment in June, the Ministry explained.
