Nurses at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) yesterday decried the terrible working conditions which they have been forced to endure during the last two years.
Rotten floorboards, leaky roofs, stray cats which steal the patients’ food and vicious dogs which attacked and injured two nurses this week are among the issues which galvanised these employees into utilising their union representation in an effort to bargain for better working conditions.
The working environment, several nurses have said, is “an occupational safety and health hazard.” It is the failure of the hospital administration and the Ministry of Health (MoH) to address reports of problems which started small that has led to this “explosion of complaints.”
“If you fail to maintain a building and you fail to address the things which are creating difficulties then the problem will on get bigger…it will not magically disappear,” a nurse stated.
Most of the complaints concern the rear of the WDRH compound, where a three-storey building, which houses the Male Medical Ward and the Female Medical Ward, is located. When it rains it pours in certain sections of the building and as nurses walk around the wards they must watch their steps as some of the floorboards have rotted.
Stray cats often steal their way into the Male Medical Ward, nurses reported, and cause some amount of upset. The cats steal food, defecate and urinate about the ward, jump on patients and fight among themselves. “We chase them out of here but there is only so much we can do. We can’t spend all of our time chasing cats from the ward,” another nurse said. “This is supposed to be one of the more health conscious working environments and it is not healthy to have these animals among our patients.”
Before the nurses stationed in these wards get to their station they must face several vicious dogs which have made the compound their haven. The nurses are not the only ones who have been threatened by the animals. Patients and their relatives have also had run-ins with the animals.
When Stabroek News visited the hospital yesterday afternoon at least ten dogs were seen moving about the rear of the compound. There were two cats running about the Male Medical Ward and puddles of water were still in rooms where the roof had leaked.
WDRH Administrator Bharrat Persaud told this newspaper that the hospital has met nurses’ representatives and the issue is being resolved. He said some of the issues which have been raised by the nurses do exist to some degree. He declined to comment further on the matter and directed Stabroek News to Dr Ravi Persaud, the Regional Health Officer (RHO) and Medical Superintendent, for a comment. However, the RHO could not be located.
Several efforts made to reach Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy for a comment were also futile. When this newspaper contacted his MoH office an employee there said Ramsammy was in a meeting but could not say when he would next be available. This newspaper left a message and contact numbers for the minister. However, up to late last evening he had not returned a call.
Guyana Public Service Union representative for the nurses Monica Walters explained yesterday that nurses have been complaining about the horrible state of the WDRH for more than two years.
Walters said she was employed at the hospital but retired last April. However, she continues to represent the workers there. The hospital, according to her, has also been understaffed for quite a few years.
She further reported that Bharrat Persaud, the current administrator at the hospital, was appointed only last Monday. Following the man’s appointment, she told Stabroek News, she visited him and hand delivered two letters. One of the letters addressed the issue of the nurse who was bitten by a dog in the hospital compound on Sunday and the second addressed the workers’ concern about the state of the building which houses the Male and Female Medical Wards.
The woman said that on Thursday morning she was informed that a second nurse was bitten by another dog. This nurse, Walters explained, had just returned from the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she had gone to escort a patient. It was as the nurse was making her way back to her station, the union representative said, that she was attacked by the animal.
After receiving the report about the second dog attack, Walters said, she immediately made her way over to the WDRH. When she arrived there, the nurses were gathered in the compound and many were voicing complaints about the incident and the terrible conditions under which they are being forced to work. Both injured nurses, she told this newspaper, have since been sent on five days’ sick leave.
A meeting was subsequently called, Walters said, and she along with two nurses discussed their grievances with the administrator Bharrat Persaud, deputy administrator Mr Heera and the Regional Health Officer and Medical Superintendent Dr Ravi Persaud. During this meeting, Walters related, the administration team promised that the dogs in the compound would be put down tomorrow.
“They told us that the man who they are using to put down the dogs is not available until Sunday,” Walters said.
Walters further said that the administration team gave the assurance that efforts were being made to repair the building which houses the medical wards. The Male and Female Medical Ward, the administration told them, will be moved to another location in the compound so that the building can be repaired.
“I’m interested in the safety of my workers. Mr [Dr Ravi] Persaud said the nurses are liming… They have to go to dispensary and move with patients from here to there and then walk back to their stations so this is not liming or loitering. This is them doing their job,” Walters said.
The WDRH, according to Walters, has been in the same state for more than two years. Despite numerous complaints to relevant officials these issues have not been addressed. “The nurses are in a crisis and if they are in a crisis then they will rebel,” she said.
