“A campaign of hate against the nursing fraternity is being waged,” says PSA president Watson Duke. He was speaking at the carpark of the San Fernando General Hospital on Tuesday where he met with nurses to discuss allegations of high absenteeism. During the meeting, Duke also defended media personnel who were harassed by security guards.
Chastising hospital officials for making “reckless and inaccurate” statements, Duke said he examined the attendance registers on Christmas Eve and found that none of the restorative nursing assistants were absent from their shifts. “On the afternoon, we had 249 persons present. On Christmas Day, less than ten persons were absent from 152 nurses based on the records,” Duke said.
“On Boxing Day, we had about ten persons absent out of a staff of 179 RN, (registered nurses), so this whole plot to denigrate nurses and devalue them and make them the object of hatred in the eyes of the public will not work and we will not stand for it.” Duke called upon the South West Regional Health Authority CEO, Anil Gosine to explain the discrepancy. While nurses continue to work, Duke said the hospital conditions remained deplorable.
“Nurses have been giving yeoman service here, right now in the surgical wards there are several nurses working there and they are working without proper air condition. We have a situation where the basic tools, equipment and resources are lacking, and we are calling on Anil Gosine, instead of trying to make war with the media and making war with the nurses, to fix the SWRHA hospital,” Duke said. He said in the new year he planned to mobilise a campaign against all RHA’s.
“For far too long, they have been underpaid and overworked. We are saying they must be paid properly and properly as defined by a job evaluation as completed in 2010 which says a nurse should receive, in 2010, $12,000 as a basic salary,” Duke said.
Saying negotiations must be settled immediately, Duke said all nurses should be given a housing allowance.
LOG BEING KEPT
Asked about the actions of the security against members of the media who were on the hospital’s compound to cover the meeting with the nurses, Duke said, “I am disheartened by the level of thuggery displayed by these so-called security officers.”
Medical director Dr Anand Chatoorgoon said he had nothing to say about Duke’s accusations. Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan said yesterday that he had mandated all RHA officials to keep a log of absenteeism. He said although sick leave could not be deemed fraudulent, investigations were ongoing to determine whether doctors were indiscriminately issuing sick leave. Efforts to contact Gosine proved futile as calls to his cellular phone went unanswered.