Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke yesterday called for Health Minister Fuad Khan to step down, amid complaints that staff at Piarco Airport were given defective gloves to deal with people potentially infected with the Ebola virus. Duke claimed port health workers had also not been given thermometers to check body temperatures or any other equipment to ensure their own safety and that of other citizens.
Staff from the Airports Authority, Immigration, health workers of the Port Authority and Customs officers gathered at the roundabout at BWIA Boulevard at Piarco yesterday, carrying placards and singing union songs as they protested against claims by Khan about the country’s readiness for the Ebola virus. “Wine and jam and die! We not ready for Ebola,” read one placard held by an Airports Authority employee as he marched under the hot sun.
Duke told the media, “Workers are clear in their minds that Ebola coming to this country would be unwelcome and so this is the first step towards letting the Government know that the people are not Ebola-ready. “At the airport there is no isolation unit. We are concerned about that, because if you discover on an airline, someone has symptoms associated with Ebola, the first thing to do is to remove that person off the airline and isolate them. But is there an isolation room? No.”
He said port health workers had told him there was no clear policy on screening for the virus. “They go on the aircraft, they ask a question, whether people are sick or not. They are told everything is okay, then they sign off and say everything is okay. Duke said his union would next protest outside the Caura hospital and would continue action, including a massive national march, until the Government responded appropriately. He slammed Khan for a lack of concern for citizens.
“He is clearly not equipped for this job,” Duke said.