Upset over what they claimed was disrespect, regional health workers attached to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital along with members of the T&T Registered Nurses Association (TTRNA) yesterday converged on the Ministry of Health where they formed a human barricade and disrupted operations, preventing employees and visitors from entering or leaving the building.
They were protesting for better wages and backpay. During the fracas, the front glass panel of the main door was smashed, and a female security guard was injured and had to be taken for medical treatment.
Police officers also had to be called to the ministry’s head office at Park Street, Port-of-Spain, after the angry workers refused to disperse, despite repeated warnings by president of the TTRNA, Gwendolyn Loobie-Snaggs, for them to calm down.
The situation began to escalate at the Port-of-Spain hospital just after 10 am when Khan, along with executive members of the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) gathered to open formally the expanded Nephrology Unit. Even as the speeches were being delivered inside, the din of the protestors could be heard outside as the group, who were mainly clad in green T-shirts bearing the logo of the Public Services Association (PSA), chanted and clapped, shouting: “We want we money” and “No money, no vote.”
Acknowledging the protestors at that time, Khan joked that their “movements” would ensure they did not develop diabetes or become obese. The unit has now been expanded to include 12 chairs, which would enable an average of 40 persons to be dialysed a day over three shifts, along with its own water filtration plant which ensures that ultra-pure water is delivered to the haemodialysis chairs.
It also includes a portable water treatment system to enable dialysis of patients who are physically unable to come to the unit; a heat disinfection and sanitisation system which ensures patients are not exposed to infections; and an ultramodern vascular access machine which is the only one of its kind in the country and which allows for the precise incision into a patient’s vein for blood extraction.
The old unit which previously operated out of Ward 52 of the Central Block was only able to service five patients at a time. Additionally, two haemodialysis chairs have also been allocated in a private room for the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients who require such treatment. Following the formal ceremony, Khan emerged to face the angry workers who then joined the touring party as they moved through the facility.
During the impromptu tour, Khan visited the main kitchen which was being refurbished at a cost of $1 million, the Central Sterilisation Unit and the Physiotherapy Unit. Jostling the minister, executive members, invitees and members of the media for space as they walked about the hospital compound, the hospital security guards were also alerted as the workers became more agitated and curious members of the public began poking their heads out to witness the cause of the commotion.
An offer to assist Khan to leave the hospital, via a back entrance, was refused by the minister who indicated he was not cowed by the workers’ actions. Questioned about the workers concerns during the walkabout, Khan indicated that it was outside his ministry’s purview as those wage negotiations were taking place between the Public Services Association (PSA) and the Chief Personnel Officer.
It was later revealed that the workers were all permanent staff of the NWRHA, who operated as wardsmaids. Even as the heated protest during the mid-morning was led by PSA members, members of the TTRNA who were present opted to gather outside the hospital’s main entrance where they were addressed by Loobie-Snaggs.
Dissatisfied with the state of the negotiations and lack of answers, the TTRNA members joined their PSA counterparts at the ministry, where they were all barred from entering the building. Loobie-Snaggs confirmed it was while she was attempting to access the building when the door was opened to allow an employee to leave, that the situation escalated after she was caught in the melee of being pushed and pulled in various directions.
Up to late yesterday, Loobie-Snaggs was attempting to set up an emergency meeting with members of the TTRNA executive for them to decide the next move forward.