“[…] Sometimes I drive to work, sometimes I travel. I have to always keep praying because, honestly, not every day I would feel like going. I have to keep talking to myself and say: ‘This is not for you; this is for the patients. They need help and you have …
Read More »Daly Bread: Defining public healthcare management
Regrettably, sharp comment is invited by the recent verbal tactics that the Minister of Health deployed in response to the deaths of seven babies at the Port of Spain General Hospital between 4 and 7 April, connected with a bacterial outbreak there. Perhaps the Minister is not aware that there …
Read More »Kangalee: Gov’t bamboozling nurses with bonus while they suffer on short-term rollover contracts
“[…] Many [health care workers] are working under short term contracts—some as short as three months—[and] have been subjected to continual rollovers of their short term contracts and who have been employed continuously for 15 years and more. “[…] Instead of abolishing the short term-rollover contract system, coming up with …
Read More »NWU: Remove RHAs’ horrendous contract system; end master-and-servant syndrome
“[…] Short-term contract labour has been in widespread use throughout the Regional Health Authorities in Trinidad and Tobago ever since the establishment of the Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) in the 1990s… Short-term contract workers obviously suffer anxiety over their job security and are at a disadvantage when it comes to …
Read More »NJAC: Govt must overhaul health system, consult labour workers and implement hazard allowance
“[…] NJAC calls on the Government to urgently implement […] a special hazard allowance or similar benefit […] for all frontline workers throughout the health sector. “NJAC notes with interest, that there is already a precedent for this existing throughout the Caribbean and other parts of the world…” The following …
Read More »Dear Editor: Why must oil-rich T&T still depend on Cuba for nurses? And imagine if Sea Lots had boat party?
“[…] We have been bringing health personnel from Cuba for almost two decades. Would that money have not been better invested in training and remunerating our own? “One imagines the human body in Cuba is essentially the same as ours. They have built an exemplary health system under an economic …
Read More »Great opportunity, but many minefields—tips for T&T nurses migrating to UK
“[…] For the winters, your accommodation costs should budget to cover heating and electricity. The best-case scenario is finding accommodation at a fixed cost provided by your employer. “[…] Never raise your voice loudly to appear to be shouting at anyone in the workplace. Do not wave your hands/arms around …
Read More »Unappreciated nurses, missing test kits, tent life, and ICU trauma: Covid-19 vs MoH
“[…] When you see tents set up [outside hospitals] is when your health system is overwhelmed, but we were using tents from day one! These billion dollar facilities we have and they are not designed to treat infectious diseases. “[…] And the tents are another story. They are sweltering hot …
Read More »MSJ’s Covid suggestions: Faster test results, Cuban nurses and vaccines, and review home isolation policy
“[…] The process of home isolation needs to be reviewed so that we do not have significant spread in families… It is to be noted that many persons live in circumstances that do not allow social distancing and the isolation of an ill family member. “It may therefore be necessary …
Read More »Deyalsingh’s International Nurses Day message: ‘I’m grateful for your support’
The following is a message from Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh on 2021 International Nurses Day: More from Wired868 Vaneisa: Censorship, without and within—the risk in rocking the boat Little things add up—sometimes, they can sneak up insidiously so that we don’t see them coming until something happens. It’s Read …
Read More »Dear Editor: Idi is right, T&T must do more to support overworked nurses in this perilous time
“[…] What many forget, what the mainstream media does not highlight, what the ‘jacket and tie’ crowd in the media briefings does not mention is this: that these front-line workers, exposed daily to the virus, leave to go home to their families exhausted after double-shifts sometimes. “Let us remember the …
Read More »Day in the life of a Nurse: Helping better lives and coping with death on a daily basis
“I sometimes have to clean my patients or change their adult diapers. Then, I have to give patients their baths, administer or prescribe medication, feed them their meals, document patient care, as well as supervise junior nursing staff. “Training patients, relatives and other staff about what is required for the patient’s care …
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