NURSES of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) yesterday embarked on a ‘go slow, which, before the end of the day, saw them effectively ‘downing tools’ and picketed the nation’ leading health institution.

The protest action, they claim, was in response to what they termed the unfair dismissal and suspension of at least three of their colleagues, over allegations of the disappearance of a quantity of morphine from the Accident and Emergency Unit.
Morphine is an opoid. It acts upon specific receptors in the brain and spinal cord to decrease the feeling of pain and to reduce the emotional response to pain.  Morphine is used to treat moderate to severe pain. It works by dulling the pain perception centre in the brain. Short-acting formulations are taken as needed for pain.  Extended-release formulations are used when around-the-clock pain relief is needed.
It is a dangerous practice for morphine to end up into the hands of unauthorised persons.
The striking nurses claimed their protest action had developed into picketing so as to press demands for the reinstatement of two nurses dismissed and another suspended after claims were made about the disappearance of the drug.
Yesterday about a dozen nurses and at least one doctor – all members of the Guyana Public Service Union, armed with placards, protested outside the A& E Unit on New Market Street, even as patients waited on the inside to be attended to. They vowed the strike action would go into Thursday (today), but as it turned out, they discontinued before the afternoon was out.
However, this newspaper was unable to ascertain on whose advice the employees proceeded to take strike action, and whether the basic industrial relations procedures of conciliation, mediation and arbitration were followed or observed.
The employees claim they opted to protest because they hadn’t been given a fair hearing. Essentially, they said, the administration acted in a prejudiced manner, in that they exercised judgment ‘without the facts’ and acted purely on assumption.
Some of the placards were worded:  “Reinstate our colleagues now!”; “Better conditions will guarantee better service”; Cleanse the top first” and “We are fed up with injustice.”
This newspaper made several attempts to get a comment from the hospital administration, but all efforts were unsuccessful. All the telephone lines for the competent authorities authorised to speak kept ringing out.