Nurses and ancillary staff at both the Fort Wellington Hospital in Fort Wellington West Coast Berbice and the Mahaicony Hospital in Mahaicony East Coast Demerara, engaged in a sit out on Monday as they continue their protest against perceived shabby treatment by the government with respect to wages, risk allowances and working conditions..
The nurses and other staff signed in to work but did not work. The sit-out left both hospitals barely functional and many seeking medical treatment, were turned away.
A spokesperson said that the protests will continue today in the form of a picketing exercise in front the Office of the Regional Democratic Council at Fort Wellington from around 08:00 hrs and at Mahaicony around the same time. The picketing exercise which will be the second one by the aggrieved healthcare workers since the protests were embarked on last Friday.
The nurses among other issues demanded a fair risk allowance and the availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), for them during their tours of duty. The spokesperson for striking workers vowed that the industrial action will continue until their demands for respect and fair treatment in the form of better wages, better conditions of work including a realistic risk allowance, are met. The workers rebuffed a suggestion that they will get benefits when the budget is passed.
One spokesperson asked: Why we gotta wait. The sugar industry didn’t have to wait; the ministers didn’t have to wait for their luxury vehicles money.” Some also queried what the $150M promised by the Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony could realistically do for nurses. One opined that with the thousands of nurses countrywide the $150M being proposed by the Government might very well amount to a mere $2800 per nurse per month.
