Health Minister debunks Norton’s claim of Charles Roza school closure

Last Updated on Monday, 11 August 2025, 21:52 by Writer

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Monday dismissed a claim by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) that the Charles Roza School of Nursing in Linden has been shuttered.

“They’re repeating this as if it is true but it is not true,” Dr Anthony told Demerara Waves Online News. “It’s just annoying. You go up on a stage and you lie so blatantly.”

Mr Norton told an APNU rally in Linden on Sunday that school had been closed down by the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC)-led administration. “I ask a question: If the PPP likes Linden so much, why did they close down the Charles Roza School of Nursing? It is because they are vindictive and wicked. It was the best nursing school in this country,” he said.

The APNU-People’s National Congress Reform Leader promised that his party would create a “proper network” of nursing schools to train nurses.

However, Dr Anthony said that the institution’s teaching-learning system for one course was revamped to increase the intake of more students from the hinterland instead of overwhelmingly from Linden. “We stopped the course and organised the system so that we can get more people from the interior to attend the class; that was one single training course,” he said. The health minister said since then, the opposition had been claiming that the Charles Rosa nursing school was closed down.

The health minister said the nursing school now provides for both distance learning and in-person classes, affording a broader cross section of students to attend the health sector education facility.

“That’s far from the truth. I even invested a whole set of money in developing a simulation lab and now, with the hybrid programme as well. Anybody who didn’t get in the class physically can go on the hybrid programme,” he said.

Dr Anthony said of the 379 students at the Charles Roza School of Nursing, an estimated 200 are from Linden as a result of the hybrid system.