Dear Editor,

Nurses, doctors, teachers, police officers, soldiers and firefighters make up the essential services of a country. The national pledge for schools speaks to loyalty in service to the country but the state of affairs in Jamaica makes one see a visa as an essential way of accessing better conditions.

Teachers face an ‘up-mountain’ task of producing competent students amidst enormous challenges. It is not easy to teach children who sometimes have discipline issues, is without textbooks, medical care and food, among other personal challenges.

The nurses are faced with the situation of more patients than beds, the shortage of essentials such as dressings, medication, syringes. Extended working hours is not even a drop in the bucket of the woes that our nurses face. And now they are facing attacks.

While there may not be a fire every day, firefighting is equally essential. It is heart-rending to know that when the need arises many stations are without fire engines. Then the fire service is also plagued with dry or broken fire hydrants and other poor equipment.

The group that has been charged with the responsibility of maintaining law and order has been sentenced to worn tyres on ‘radio cars’ and duck-tape service pistols. It is hard to see how the police can “serve, protect and reassure” civilians without having the requisite gear to protect themselves.

Now the thread that runs through the essential teams year after year is that they must tighten belts and exist under continued wage freeze. After years of making bread out of stone, the compensation is grossly embarrassing. Have we taken the time to think of the results of a gun in the hands of a stressed police officer or a needle in the hands of a stressed-out nurse who is finding it hard to make ends meet? The business of taking care of those who take care of us should be of such importance that they are afforded a decent salary package to enable them to survive. It is incumbent on the Government to put plans in place and acquire the relevant tools/equipments to make the working conditions of the essential services better.

Monique Hilton

mxnhylton@yahoo.com