Gov’t monitoring situation in health sector

THE Ministry of Labour is considering taking action against nurses in light of disruptions to the health sector caused by a two-day nurses’ sickout.

The nurses failed to show up at a meeting with the minister and other officials this morning, despite the fact that the meeting was called to discuss their concerns, a release this evening said.

“All other invited parties were present, including representatives from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Ministry of Education and the University Hospital of the West Indies,” it added.

The meeting was called to discuss matters pertaining to the industrial action taken by registered nurses in public hospitals island-wide.

For the 7:00 am to 3:00 pm shift yesterday the institutions with the highest levels of absenteeism were Port Maria (55 per cent), Port Antonio (64 per cent), Mandeville (83 per cent), Linstead (50 per cent), Annotto Bay (40 per cent), St Ann’s Bay (61 per cent) and Victoria Jubilee (51 per cent) hospitals.

For the 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm shift the same facilities were most affected.

For the 7:00 am to 3:00 pm shift today, the affected institutions were Port Maria (73 per cent), St Ann’s Bay (42 per cent), Victoria Jubilee (50 per cent), and Mandeville (47 per cent) hospitals.

Health Minister Ruddy Spencer said emergency protocols have been activated for all affected health facilities to ensure that their operations aren’t severely hampered.

“High levels of absenteeism by registered nurses have been reported at several health facilities across the island in a pattern which suggests that it may be a co-ordinated activity,” Spencer said in a news release.

He said there was no notification of industrial action by the executive of the Nurses’ Association of Jamaica.

“For the affected facilities, only emergency cases are being dealt with. Non-critical patients are being discharged and elective surgeries have been cancelled. Senior nursing staff are manning the critical areas of hospital operations,” he said.

The nurses have been fighting for, among other things, a reclassification exercise and retroactive payments.

Despite their calls on the Government to set a date to proceed with the reclassification exercise, they said they are yet to receive a favourable response.

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