The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

WITH yesterday marking the eighth day of a staff sick out affecting public health services, Health Minister Renward Wells said officials are in discussions with unions.

The Public Hospitals Authority said Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) continues to experience limited staffing and expected delays in services.

“The Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre (SRC) continues to experience staff call-ins; services are challenged, however, patient care and services continue uninterrupted,” PHA said.

Speaking on the sidelines before the arrival of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, Mr Wells said discussions are ongoing.

“We have a union that is currently taking actions so to speak that is the Bahamas Public Service Union. The other unions that are the nurses, doctors, the junior doctors and the consultant physicians union, we’re talking with them as well to ensure that we are always on board collectively together, working together to expand and deliver the kind of requisite healthcare for the Bahamian people,” he said.

“As you know when I became minister we hired some 32 SHOs (senior house officers). Doctors who (are) coming on board. We put 29 of those into PHA’s hospital stream; the others were placed in the Department of Public Health. Since that time, we have now on board, I think, 40 plus individuals, interns, as well at PMH to be able to assist.

“We’ve also hired some 65 RN nurses. We have some 20 plus TCN nurses that we brought into the system. In addition to that, we have another 40 nurses who have come out of the University of the Bahamas’ nursing programme who are now a part of the Department of Public Health PMH’s system, so we’ve been doing what we needed to do to augment both the doctors and nurses. . .We’ve also brought in some, probably about 15, new porters to be able to assist on the side of the support staff inside the Department of Public Health as well as PMH and PHA.”

The sick-out involves workers who have reportedly not received honorariums for work during the pandemic. Mr Wells has come under fire as his driver and personal assistant were awarded the honorarium, while some in the healthcare system were not.

Although he asked the two staffers to return the $1,158.40 to the government, Progressive Liberal Party chairman Fred Mitchell said the minister should do the “honourable thing” and resign.

When asked for comment about the controversy and calls for him to resign, Mr Wells replied: “I think I would’ve spoken definitively on that subject. I’m not going to go back over that again. I think I would’ve very clearly articulated the circumstances and how I would’ve liked to proceed and proceeded. So, as I said before on Tuesday, what is on the record as I’ve spoken will remain on the record.”

The minister had previously said that he had made no recommendations about who should receive the honorarium and those who received it were recommended by a select committee within the Ministry of Health.