Nurses at the Maternity Department of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital are calling for Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan to retract statements he made questioning their conduct and commitment to provide quality health care to patients. His statements were made in response to an incident at the hospital on Sunday, in which a nurse was physically attacked by a patient who later threatened to have the worker killed if she was caught outside the hospital.
Supporting their call are officials of the Public Services Association (PSA), who deemed the statements “callous.” PSA first vice-president Christopher Joefield said the statements had negatively impacted the nurses’ morale as they “took it hard.” Saying “it was inappropriate for the minister to say something like that,” Joefield said when one considered the problems medical practitioners encountered on a daily basis, Khan was out of line to pronounce on the incident without first knowing the facts.
Khan angered the nurses when he suggested their protest was due to a war between the PSA and T&T Registered Nurses Association (TTRNA) over who should represent them. Steering clear of questions on whether or not the PSA was indeed at “war” with the TTRNA yesterday, Joefield said: “We are clear that this is not only an issue affecting nurses but it is a safety issue for all staff at the hospital and we have made that our focus.
“Nurses may have focused on the attacks against them but there are other members of staff who are non-nursing staff who are being affected. PSA is working collaboratively to address the issues raised.” Joefield said they were satisfied that short-term measures had been introduced, stressing that the PSA was about ensuring the environment was safe for both employees and patients.
Nurses yesterday demonstrated their continued disgust over Khan’s remarks by engaging in a “sit-out” at the facility. Unlike the last two days, there was a marked absence of noisy protestors outside the main gate yesterday morning. Instead, nurses opted to gather in a classroom where they discussed the ongoing issues without disrupting operations.
When the T&T Guardian visited the hospital, security guards from Security Analyst Services (SAS), which is owned by former national security minister Gary Griffith, could be seen logging in visitors to both the wards and the maternity clinic. Everyone entering the facility had to liaise with the officers on duty before proceeding to the designated areas.
SAS replaced the previous company, Heller Security Services, which had been providing security services at the Maternity Department, after the nurses complained that the officers had failed to intervene in Sunday’s attack on the nurse. Vice-chairman of the Northern Branch of the TTRNA, Kerne Ramnath, said while nurses were still not satisfied, they agreed to give the North West Regional Health Authority time to implement the conditions proposed to ensure the environment was safer.
Unable to confirm if the nurse who was attacked had returned to work, Ramnath said he was also unsure if any charges had been laid against the patient. He assured that Sunday's incident had not impacted the level of care to patients who continued to receive “optimum care and service.” TTRNA president Gwendolyn Loobie-Snaggs vowed to continue fighting to ensure improved terms and conditions for all nursing personnel.
She too declined to address the issue which Khan raised regarding the right of the TTRNA to represent nursing personnel, adding that the membership had grown to thousands.