THE process has begun to place 78 nurses, who completed training within the last quarter of 2009, but remained at Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) due to administrative lapses. The batch, comprising 29 professional nurses and 38 nursing assistants, started last Friday when they were given placement letters identifying where they will work.
Of the lot, five (three registered nurses and two nursing assistants) have been assigned to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, which is facing a near crisis staff shortage situation while twelve will stay at the GPH.
The others have been assigned to East La Penitence, Campbellville, Sophia, Plaisance, Lusignan, Nabaclis, Clonbrook, Mahaica, Mahaicony, Bartica and Suddie health centres, where they are to report on Monday.
Minister in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran said correspondence has already been dispatched to the relevant officials who will ensure that the nurses’ names are placed on the payroll immediately, as they have suffered considerably, having been functioning as nurses for the last seven months but were paid stipends instead of salaries.
The placement exercise took place in Ramsaran’s office after he learnt of the nurses’ plight following their writing and passing their final examinations in October, November and December, respectively.
Principal Personnel Officer in the Ministry, Ms. Trevalene Smith, who assisted in expediting the postings, yesterday disclosed that the nurses had all been registered since February 12 but were not accorded the status, in terms of remuneration.
Meanwhile, Ramsaran was also informed that 75 more nurses, who wrote their examinations last month, were stuck at West Demerara Regional Hospital, although they, too, could have been posted to satisfy nursing needs in other areas.
Smith said that those nurses’ results should be available by month end and posting will be expedited promptly.
The situation regarding non-placement of nurses was brought into focus a few days ago, when Ramsaran visited Diamond and discovered that there was a serious staff problem there.
He had gone there as a result of reports, in the media, that all was not well at the institution, as revealed on Good Friday night, when a 27-year-old mother of one, Ramona Harris, struck by a vehicle on Diamond Public Road was taken there in a critical condition and later died.
“This development is a direct outcome of our putting in order, deficiencies which were catapulted to our attention following the incident at Diamond,” the Minister said of the placements.
He said it was a very unfortunate situation at Diamond but wished to let the nation know that there will never be a recurrence.
Ramsaran urged the nurses to put their best foot forward and change the sad record which presented itself.
In addition to the placement of nurses, he said two Cuba-trained doctors, Angelina Danny and Afzal Muhammed, who returned home last July and have since served at GPH and other health clinics during their induction, were yesterday deployed to the Linden Hospital Complex, where they will work alongside a team of Cuban doctors.
Ramsaran revealed that another worrying trend involves tutors from the Schools of Nursing being taken away from classrooms to mark examination papers in Georgetown, when they are supposed to be teaching student nurses.
He said, in one instance, several tutors from a nursing school dispatched themselves to the city to do marking and the entire learning facility was left without any body tutoring.
Ramsaran said steps will be taken to recruit persons who can expedite the marking of examination papers, so as not to interfere with education process of the nurses in training.