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My experience at the Arima hospital today was mixed. It was mostly sweet, mind you.
Everyone who I came into contact with—from security to medical staff—was polite and professional, while the facility itself was clean and orderly. The wait for a simple procedure was long, though.
For a synopsis of my adventure, I received a number upon check-in. This number was called by the receptionist who checked everyone’s documentation.
Later, that same receptionist grouped the patients into suitable order for our medical check-ups while simultaneously addressing persons, mostly elderly, who had their paperwork but neglected to get numbers.
After roughly three hours, I was finally ushered into the office of the relevant medical professional to be treated… Only to see the same receptionist!
You see, she was not a receptionist at all. She is a trained medical professional.
“You’re doing receptionist duty for yourself?” I asked.
“Well, someone has to do it,” she replied.
“So, there is nobody here to handle that part of the job?” I asked.
“Yes, but if I wait on them…” She let her voice trail off. “I’m just trying to see about my patients as best as possible.”
“Well, this has to be a managerial problem!” I retorted.
On reflection, my comment was not nearly as insightful as it seemed to be at the time. It probably did not help either.
“Well,” she said, “you never know who is who’s friend here. So, I just do what I can for my patients.”
So, to summarise, I was very well treated by the staff at the Arima hospital. But somewhere outside of my line of vision were employees who could not be bothered to pull their weight.
(Imagine a restaurant where the cook has to take orders and serve food as well, with the inevitable bottleneck of frustrated customers as a result.)
And because of those invisible employees, the visit of dozens—or maybe hundreds—of patients was more tedious and time consuming than necessary. A day’s work could easily be lost to inefficiency.
For the dutiful, hardworking employees at the Arima General Hospital and others, thank you for the service. But the public deserves better management than this
It is another example of the simple changes that could make a big difference to the quality of life in Trinidad and Tobago.
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Lasana Liburd is the managing director and chief editor at Wired868.com and a journalist with over 20 years experience at several Trinidad and Tobago and international publications including Play the Game, World Soccer, UK Guardian and the Trinidad Express.
