Dear Editor,
Once more Guyana’s President would appear to have excited the population with the prospect of a specialist ‘Paediatric and Maternal Hospital’ – to be constructed at Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara. The President is quoted as saying: “Guyana is on track to achieve its goal as a nation with world class health facilities with the highest standards”. Opportunity is taken here to remind the Minister of Health of the sorely needed MRI equipment at the Georgetown Public Hospital – its acquisition will relate to the President’s undertaking to the effect that: “there would be a modern laboratory that would have a comprehensive package of laboratory services”.
Not inappropriately, President Ali urged “Guyanese health workers to remain here, as infrastructure is not worthwhile without human resources”. Presumably it is envisaged that relevantly qualified staff now located at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation would have to be transferred to the new facility in the first instance; while other appropriately trained personnel will be added in order to satisfy further human resources requirements. In this regard it should be a pre-requisite for the most scrupulous attention to be paid to the current related operational standards at the GPHC in order to analyse and decide on the strengths and weaknesses of comparable services to be addressed.
The President should request to see for review the existing Departmental structure; the specific skills levels, and the respective job/position values. For contrary to the initial conceptualisation of the Georgetown Hospital being registered as a Corporation managed by a Board (as other Public Sector Agencies), it was fastened most contradictorially to the Ministerial construct, particularly in terms of the basic pay structure as approved in all annual budgets. But then there are many lower levels of Technical and Craft Skilled totalling 1,026, while Nursing Assistants, Nurse Aides, Health Care Attendants and Patient Care Assistants total 1,428 – at GPHC. There is therefore amongst the number of human resources issues to be addressed the matter of the transfer of staff and related compensable conditions of employment, e.g. transport.
The question of incentives therefore arises, moreso in relation to the promised compensation enlargement, with the obvious ‘spill-back’ to the rest of health care workers at GPHC; and the spill-over to their counterparts in i) the Ministry of Health, and next ii) the rest of the Public Service. At the same time there is the Presidential undertaking to meet with the Guyana Public Service Union, who insists on negotiating a new salary package, if not a more comprehensive compensation structure. President Ali may well have to resort to renegotiations with EXXON to fund the expected increases. For starters the current job values expressed in the 2022 Budget are as follows:
The relevant ministerial ‘professionals’ and the Union/s would have a hard time explaining why and how the Teaching Service providers could be overlooked, the examination results being the best in ‘our Caribbean’. So that it is just not only about ‘paediatrics’, but a full blown human resources and compensation management restructuring that is inherent – logically including a relationship with the Region Four Health Services Administration.
Sincerely,
E.B. John
