Poor security pushes doctors, nurses to ‘down tools’ at Diamond Hospital

Sep 07, 2017 News

Poor security and the deplorable state of the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, yesterday, forced doctors and nurses to stage a sit-in after several of their complaints were ignored by the officials at the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH).
Kaieteur News understands that whenever it rains, some sections of the hospital are flooded and the staffers have no choice but to work in the water. Most of the air conditioning units at the facility are said to be out of order.
This issue was raised with officials of the Ministry and several letters were written and sent to the Minister of MOPH, Volda Lawrence, but all were ignored.
Additionally, the workers have expressed concern over the security system at the hospital. They claimed that sometimes there are two women guarding the entire compound.
“These two people can’t do anything. I don’t know what they expect a woman to do at 11 o’clock in the night when angry family members come in and try to harass the staff,” one employee at the hospital said yesterday.
The woman explained that all the employees made a decision to stage a sit-in after they realized that they were being treated unfairly. Making matters worse was an incident which occurred on August 28, last, when the relatives of a patient who was pronounced dead became aggressive and threatened to return to the health institute with a gun.
A man, who was identified as an ex-cop, reportedly grabbed one of the doctors and braced him to a wall in the Accident and Emergency Room, causing the other employees to run for cover. The individual also threatened to return with a gun.
The matter was reported to the ranks at the Diamond Police Station and statements were taken from the ex-cop and the staffers, but to date no action has been taken.
In addition, the employees came together and penned a second letter to the health ministry addressing the need for proper security, and like the first time, the letter was again ignored.
Apart from the security concerns, this newspaper has been informed that the hospital has a shortage of staff. Nurses and security guards have to assist in fetching injured persons into the facility due to a shortage of attendants.
There is also a need for more doctors and nurses at the hospital to effectively handle the daily work load.
As news of the employees’ sit-in spread, a number of officials from the Ministry visited the hospital and spoke with employees. Work commenced shortly after, but the staffers have threatened to protest if no action is taken.

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