Nurses at the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) downed tools again on Monday in protest at the tardy handling of issues relating to two nurses who were attacked, and one of them raped, at the Upper Demerara Hospital on September 11.
This decision follows a meeting on Thursday of union representatives and the affected nurses when it was concluded that the management of the LHC and the Ministry of Health (MOH) had failed to deal in a definitive manner with matters concerning the welfare of the two nurses.
Meanwhile, GPSU Linden representative Maurice Butters said that the industrial action would continue today. This, he said, was further aggravated following several meetings held with various levels of staff, including nurses.
According to Butters union members alleged that hospital administrator Trevor Vangenderen had told nurses that should they sustain injuries with sharps (needles), they would not be compensated by the hospital since they would have acted outside their contractual arrangements. He noted that injecting and phlebotomy are the responsibilities of certified doctors but nurses at the LHC have been guilty of performing such tasks.
And in a recent interview with Stabroek News the nurse who was raped and robbed said that the management of the LHC and the Ministry of Health had compounded her stress.
According to the nurse, following promises by the two bodies to ensure that she and her colleague would have access to professional counselling and consideration of options for a transfer, she visited an official at the ministry. “He sent me to check a number of possible facilities… I didn’t approve of any of the facilities because I couldn’t have my family with me.” She said the official then asked if she could furnish a house and “I told him I cannot because I am currently paying a mortgage.”
She said that at this point she felt her integrity was impugned when she was told “don’t use this incident to get land and house.” She said too that the official also refuted claims that they had promised to have her and her colleague receive professional counselling from an international body which was expected in the country.
The nurse said in another conversation with the CEO of the LHC, Gordon Gumbs, she was told that he could not have further dialogue with her because he had been informed that she was suing the government. “I never intended to sue the government over this matter; it is a fact that we were seeking legal advice but never to sue.”
However, the nurses through their lawyers Chapman and Trotman wrote to the Ministry of Health because they felt the authorities were tardy in handling the matter.
