…GPHC official says medical staff face social stigma at markets, related to coronavirus

By Naomi Parris

Despite having to work long hours away from their families during the fight to slow the spread of the dreaded coronavirus, nurses and doctors are being stigmatised and discriminated by the general public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Manager/Head of Strategic Planning and Communication at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Chelauna Providence, in addressing a number of complaints stated, “We have been receiving reports from nurses and doctors that taxi services have refused to pick them up and bring them to work, supermarkets have asked them to leave when they are in uniform or have their badges on, we basically want to let the public know that nurses especially, are frontline workers when it comes to responding to COVID-19.”

Providence further stated that nurses are constantly working overtime to slow spread of COVID-19 in Guyana, and deserve to be treated with respect during this critical period. “Our nurses and our doctors are continuously preparing for any possible situation in Guyana and they have been working hard and overtime to do so, so we want people to extend the same courtesies that they would to everyone else…additionally people should be a bit more accommodating to healthcare workers because if you should get sick or if you should need healthcare, the healthcare workers are going to be the ones to take care of you,” she stated.

Additionally, Providence stated that, the stigma that is being displayed is centered on the lack of knowledge and persons should educate themselves and adhere to the precautionary measures set out by the health system.

“With the COVID-19, the threat is basically to anyone, it’s not just doctors and nurses that people need to be concerned about and so we also want to reinforce that people should take the necessary precautions as they are advised by the health authorities, practice their handwashing, social distancing, respiratory etiquette,” she said.
‘WHY YOU PICK SHE UP’

Meanwhile, Nurse Bobb, who is attached to the GPHC, shared her experience after the news broke of Guyana’s first COVID-19 case. “My first experience that I had it was about a day or two after the news broke about the patient that died I was going home from work and I got into a bus at the 44 bus park and as soon as I went into the bus, they had people inside of the bus that had face mask and so, so soon as I got into the bus I was sitting at the front there was a middle-aged lady, she turned around and was like, ‘why you pick up this nurse’ to the bus driver,” she explained

Noting that nurses are at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bobb stated that the general public should show sympathy to healthcare workers during this critical period.
“Nurses, we are at the frontline, we don’t have choice, so I mean they should at least be sympathetic to us …I can’t step back from the fact that this is the career that I chose and that’s another thing people have been commenting on Facebook, ‘oh but that’s the career you chose’ and I’m like yea this is what I chose but that doesn’t give you the right to victimise me,” she stated.

Adding that nurses and doctors cannot adjust to the current shift/rotation system set up in the various work environments makes it even more frustrating for them. “You know how their doing the whole shift system now, you work you stay home you work, I’ve been working overtime, like I’m tired but I still have to come to work because I can’t leave the patients undone because their still sick patients coming,” she stated.

APPALLING BEHAVIOUR
In expressing her frustration and disappointment the nurse stated, “it’s kind of appalling that this is how the general public are treating the healthcare workers that they still have to turn around and ask for help at the end of the day.”

Nurse Anthony, who is also attached to GPHC, noted that he too was has faced some discrimination when using public transportation since the news broke of the country’s first case of the virus.
He added that he has grown frustrated of the pestering of people and has resorted to walking with a set of change of clothes to change before leaving work to avoid stigmatisation.

Anthony also revealed that he also experienced some discrimination from a member of the Guyana Police Force, stating that he was told by a police officer that he could not enter a public building because he was a nurse.

SHUNNED AT CID
“I went to the CID to visit my sister and the police at the gate said that nurses can’t come into the compound because the corona virus is by the hospital,” the young man stated.
Meanwhile, Nurse Goodridge noted that there is discrimination among her peers which fills her with disappointment since her colleagues should know better.

“It all goes back to knowledge and information being carried out because for instance, what I think in this time in corona …I think the population has become so insensitive even though we have so many articles online saying that corona virus doesn’t discriminate whether you’re royal, rich, poor, male, female, in between corona does not discriminate but at the same time we as health workers and colleagues know coughing and sneezing is a natural reflex action that we have been doing since birth,” she stated.