Staff of the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) yesterday staged an early-morning protest over late salaries and the conditions they claim they are forced to work under at the hospital.
They also demanded a risk allowance alleging that even when someone attached to the hospital tests positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), that person is being told to continue working if they do not have symptoms of the disease.
Doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, and drivers, attached to the hospital were among dozens of persons that gathered on the Vreed-en-Hoop public road yesterday demanding the authorities address their concerns. They were heard loudly chanting, “Essential workers, essential pay! Zero per cent can’t work! We need money right now! We need money right now! Zero per cent can’t work.”
“Myself and colleagues have children and responsibilities and we need to be paid on time and I believe that we need to be honoured as health care workers and not be treated the way we are being treated and we’re not asking for much, just what is due to us. Pay us on time, give us adequate equipment to work with and give us our risk allowance,” A 29-year-old protester told Stabroek News yesterday.
She added that some of the nurses are wondering how they are going to be able to pay the fare to get to work and while late salaries is one of the main issues, there are other problems that need to be addressed immediately such as the inadequate supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE).
In this regard, a nurse disclosed that the doctors attached to the male medical unit refused to work on Wednesday because there was a limited supply of gloves. She said the hospital only had one box of gloves and this was what the nurses were forced to work with.
One of the doctors at the protest commented: “I am here in solidarity with the nurses of the West Demerara hospital and I’m speaking on behalf of myself as a doctor, the Ministry in general needs to do better. We are health care workers, we’re out here, as my nurses said, we are risking our lives and giving it 100 per cent. We need adequate working equipment. The second thing is that we are discontented with the fact that every single month our salaries are late.”
The doctor added that they would also like some sort of risk allowance because they are dealing with people infected with COVID-19 every day and not only are they putting their lives at risk but also the lives of their family members.
Meanwhile, the nurses explained that the reason for demanding a risk allowance is because staff members who tested positive for COVID-19 were forced to continue working because they were not displaying any signs and symptoms of the disease.
“We working without mask and gloves and when the nurses them get coronavirus they are telling you when you get corona that you still gotta come to work once they aren’t showing signs and symptoms. It can’t work because we putting our children at risk, putting everybody at risk. Nurses got families too and that’s totally unfair,” they lamented.
As it is, they say they are already grossly underpaid but still have to work because it’s their passion and profession. “Come on man treat us like humans, it’s really unfair. So we are here hoping to get some satisfaction [and] adequate supplies. We are hoping that we are treated well, respected well by our government, right, and that they value health care workers and show that value by giving us some compensation,” another nurse said.
When asked by Stabroek News if these concerns were raised with the management, the protestors said that they did but they were told that those issues were out of the jurisdiction of management.
“When you ask the Region, Region say to go over in town and ask and when you go over in town they can’t answer you. They say to go home back,” another protestor complained.
According to the organiser of the protest, after receiving those responses they decided to protest because officials need to do something to address their concerns. She added if their concerns are not addressed, they will have no option but to strike.
Stabroek News was later informed by the organiser that the Regional Health Officer (RHO) Dr Erica Forte summoned them to a meeting to discuss their issues but they opted not to go because they wanted their union representative to be present and as the meeting was called on short notice, a representative could not attend.
The organiser said that staff who were scheduled to work returned to their duties because, “… at the end of the day is our patients, we can’t leave them just so.”
However, she declared that this does that mean that they have given up, as another protest is scheduled for today and this will continue until their voices are heard.
Linden Hospital Complex
Meanwhile, for a second consecutive day, nurses in Linden also turned out for another protest demanding that they be paid their salaries. On Wednesday, the nurses from the Linden Hospital Complex also claimed that there are insufficient PPEs at the hospital.
Attempts made yesterday to contact the Regional Health Officers for both regions yesterday were unsuccessful.
However, the Ministry of Health has denied claims regarding the PPEs and that healthcare workers are being forced to work despite testing positive for COVID-19. Representative of the Ministry, Daniel Singh, told Stabroek News that there is enough PPE in Region Three and all the other regions including Region 10. He stated that if any region requires more PPE, all they need to do is make a requisition to the Materials Management Unit and the PPE will be issued.
Regarding staff testing positive for COVID-19 and still being forced to work, Singh said only two persons from the medical staff at Leonora Cottage Hospital have tested positive for COVID-19 and they have been isolated.
On Wednesday night, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony said in a late COVID-19 update that there is no need to protest for a risk allowance because one of the first thing that they did as a government was to ensure that nurses and other frontline workers are supplied with enough PPE so they can be protected.
He acknowledged the efforts that health workers are putting in and in the budget $150 million has been allocated for risk allowance. “Unfortunately, the budget is not passed as yet, it is scheduled to be passed on Friday but once it’s passed then we will get the money and will give health workers the risk allowance that we promised. I’m not sure what prompted them to do this but I would want to advise that in the future if they have any such grievance they must first consult with the regional health authority, and then there is the Ministry of Health as well,” the minister said.
