Health workers stage sick-out

Roughly 150 allied healthcare workers called in sick at health facilities on New Providence and Grand Bahama yesterday, The Nassau Guardian confirmed.

Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU) President Kimsley Ferguson said he was not aware of a sick-out, but said certain employees who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic were “up in arms” after they were denied honorariums while others received the recent payments.

The Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) said the sick-out, which started at 8 a.m., impacted Princess Margaret Hospital’s (PMH) laboratory, radiology and diagnostics services. 

The morgue, which is already suffering from overcrowding of uncollected bodies, suspended services until further notice. 

At Rand Memorial Hospital in Grand Bahama, laboratory and phlebotomy services were severely impacted, the authority said.

The PHA said blood donation services were suspended.

Staff shortages also impacted pharmacy services at Eight Mile Rock, Hawksbill, Freeport Community Clinic, and Pearce Plaza, the PHA said.

Officials said members of the public can expect delays accessing services at these institutions and urged them where possible to access the services at a later date.

Officials reported yesterday that a record 146 people were in hospital with COVID-19. 

Sixty-one patients were in PMH and 31 in Grand Bahama Health Services (GBHS).

Hospital capacity in the country is at its limit as COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations continue to rise.

Bed capacity at PMH for COVID-19 patients was 57, according to Minister of Health Renward Wells. He said Rand Memorial is equipped to accommodate 23 COVID patients.

GBHS Administrator Sharon Williams yesterday pleaded with staff to return to work. 

“It’s a matter of needing staff support for maximum service for our public,” she said.

“So we need the staff to return to work as quickly as possible so that we can provide the care that we are entrusted to provide for our community.”

Williams said the team was busy trying to make sure that services are stabilized and that patients are being seen as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Ferguson, meanwhile, wished the employees a speedy recovery. 

“In reference to the people calling in sick, that is extremely disappointing,” he said. 

“I am hopeful that these individuals haven’t contracted COVID-19.”

But Ferguson said his members are “very concerned” about the recent honorariums that were paid to some health workers. 

“We had written the minister of health in reference to the honorarium to ensure that the persons who were participants in the COVID-19 response team would receive the honorarium,” Ferguson said.

“We never got the meeting with the minister. In a communication, he said the persons who should receive the honorarium will receive it.

“Hence we are finding out now there are different categories in the healthcare system who have not received the honorarium.”

Ferguson said staff in the laundry department, housekeeping, laboratory and radiology services are among those who should have been given consideration. 

On Tuesday, Wells said that honorariums were paid to healthcare workers who worked during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The reality is that the honorarium was not for every healthcare worker,” Wells said.

“The honorarium was a gift from government initially for those who worked directly on the front line in regards to COVID.

“The individuals who were chosen for the honorarium [were] done so by those who are the supervisors in the requisite sectors of the healthcare sector who would’ve put forth their members, who would’ve said, ‘These are the heroes and sheroes who worked on the front line in regards to COVID-19’, and the government would then have issued the requisite compensations to these individuals.”

Last month, more than 17 nurses at Rand Memorial Hospital called in sick on one day.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/health-workers-stage-sick-out/