Some reactions in social media to our nurses protesting for better working conditions show how divided the society is, how open racism has found a home and support on this platform. Let me cite two instances of the many proliferating facebook. Abdool Sharif is of the view “the government should bring in nurses from other countries who are more knowledgeable than these low life hungry belly.” Christina Jadobeer says, “so true bring nurses from India…these dogs don’t help people when you go to the hospital.” These persons are talking about Guyanese nurses who provide care, from pre-delivery to death, to everyone in Guyana regardless of race. This upsets me. Very much.
The nurses’ struggle to be treated fairly is being politicised, making the price for life and safety an ugly partisan political issue. Nurses are fighting for conditions that every healthcare worker should be guaranteed. Their fight is no different from nurses around the world whose struggle we witness on this same social media platform. If attention to addressing the nurses’ condition requires political action it should not become a partisan political issue of rancour and hate.
Some are forgetting African labour laid the foundation for this country. Africans are not going anywhere, and those who rather a society without their existence need to get accustomed to this fact. Even if nursers are imported from India as is being called for, they are not going to work in this environment without personal protective equipment, decent risk allowances and salaries Guyanese nurses are requesting.
The India government will not send their citizens to Guyana to work under the conditions Guyanese nurses are being expected to work under without complaining. I am equally convinced Indo Guyanese will not accept those dire conditions for the nurses from India. What then makes the Indian worker more deserving than the African worker if it is not racism, that misplaced sense of superiority of one over another. This nonsense must stop.
The venom towards nurses, primarily of African descent, speaks to the level of venom against the ethnic group. What is interesting to note is that whereas President Irfaan Ali speaks about “One Guyana” and his administration held a concert in sentiment of, the vitriol coming from his support base and being expounded on the facebook of the People’s Progressive Party will never realise this. He must come out and denounce this thinking and expression. His supporters must know they will find no safe haven under his leadership.
The teaching and nursing professions continue to be dominated by Africans. It is cause for serious concern, coming after a hard fought General and Regional Elections, that saw races being pitted against each other, the venom is being turned on nurses, an essential category of worker. No worker should have to go through this degradation from the people who they care for. This is racism and unless we call it for what it is, we would not be able to fix it. Why must Africans be made to feel in a country they built with their hands and continue to faithfully serve, basic rights such as protest, work, and health they are not equally deserving.
It is instructive to note the racist behaviours are not being condemned by persons and organisations who always find it convenient to tell the African community what their reality must be. What is currently being displayed can be considered institutionalised racism in the system. Nurses are not low life, hungry belly, or dogs. Sometimes nurses forego their meals to take care of the sick but that is not the hungry belly to which Abdool speaks or he would have thanked nurses for foregoing their own health to care for another. There can be no healing so long as we continue to allow the perpetuation of the nonsense being spewed from the mouths of Christina, Abdool, et al.
Those same persons who do not think African workers are deserving of employment have advocated for the beleaguered sugar industry to reopen closed estates and rehire workers who are primarily from a particular ethnic group that forms the PPP/C’s support base. It matters not to them the sustenance of the industry, to the value of billions, will have to rely on the Consolidated Fund. Yet they scream that nurses cannot get what they deserve, that the measly amount being thrown at them by the government is what they deserve.
Health care is an essential service carried on the backs of nurses who are the majority of workers in the healthcare system. If health care workers are not safe it is a threat to every person because if nurses fall sick who will take care of them and us. It may be lost on some but if these essential workers are down the rest of the society becomes vulnerable.
Those in the administration responsible for making the decisions as to improving the conditions of the nurses’ employment must act with alacrity. Red herring is this period will not suffice. The world, including Guyana, is dealing with this deadly pandemic called the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Those health care workers, who are tasked with the daily responsibility of caring for the sick provide an invaluable service and put their lives at risk to save our lives. They deserve our support in their fight to be treated with respect and dignity. I say to the nurses protesting for better working conditions- You have my unwavering support!
