Dear Editor,
A quotation from Shakespeare’s “As you like it”, reads as follow” ‘All the world a stage, and all the men and women merely players, they have their exits and entrances.’ Yes, Editor, the workers in the health sector played out their part on a major stage for years without adequate compensation. The nurses of the renown-ed Colona House (Mercy), PHG, the Best, the “Madhouse” of New Amsterdam, Pakera, Mabaruma, Suddie, Berbice and Linden all played their part. We must not forget the Midwives and Health Visitors adorned with their ‘bughouses’.
The professionalism of such personnel like Matron Harding, Premdass, Eve and the well- spoken of Edith Heywood known as the ‘Jet’ resounds throughout the halls of the health sector and nursing greats. Their sacrifices and dedication in imparting their knowledge to those who happened to be exposed to their professionalism is well known. A lot of it was learned from their exposure to the English nursing training.
A younger batch of nurses employed in mid-1950’s came from high school which offered Junior and Senior Cambridge examination like Modem Academy Tutorial High, Enterprise High. These students excelled in such subjects like Latin, English Language, English Literature, Maths, Economics and Scripture. These joined the nursing profession at the PHG. A few girls went to London to study nursing and came back and got employed in the Ministry of Health at PHG. Where today would you find a female who attended the higher secondary schools seeking employment at the Ministry of Health in the nursing field?
A number of these nurses who stayed up to their retirement of age 55 bore the brunt of unrewarding remuneration and received a meagre pension. Others who could not bear it left for greener pastures in the USA. In the late 1990s there was an exodus of nurses who left for the UK after having done a local short course in
psychology. I do not know if any of those nurses are in lines in the UK striking now for higher wages! Editor, could you imagine the hardship experienced by those nurses who joined the health sector in 1950’s and 1960’s and are now retired?
I could tell of two (2) who were blessed with longevity. The well-known Burnham- Thome who passed a few years ago at 101 and enjoyed the handsome pension of $32,000 per month. Another retired regional health visitor responsible for the area Buxton to Soesdyke and the nearby riverain area and creeks receives a pension of approximately $37,000 per a month after retiring in 1986.
If one is to speak about “Senior Citizen, a Priority for Government” in a statement by a state minister on November 6, 2019 at a concert at a West Demerara School and that one made by the President on December 25, 2022 that he is committed to bettering the lives of the elderly, surely retired nursing staff richly deserves a more substantial increase in their pensions. One wonders if a health sector retiree would be satisfied in receiving a so-called increase of merely 8%?
If by any chance it is ever said that higher salaries could not have been previously paid to the Health Sector Employee, the time is now right for increased remuneration so that they may enjoy their old age. It is right that a Health Visitor whose pension is merely $37,000 per month be hiked to at least a $148,000 per month. Such a pension would be fully justified for one’s contribution to the health of those who benefited from her professionalism prior to her retirement in 1986. Could one imagine a pensioner at that time in 1986 living without NIS, pension or Senior Citizens pension at the meagre Ministry of Finances pension?
Surely, with a budget of $781.9 billion we could do much better for the few Health Visitors and Nurses at 91 years old who are still alive.
Sincerely,
A. Alexander
