The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Nurses Union president Muriel Lightbourn says Princess Margaret Hospital is in the worst condition she has seen in more than 40 years as a nurse.

Her comments echo concerns raised by Consultant Physicians Staff Association president Dr Charelle Lockhart, who recently warned that conditions at Princess Margaret Hospital have deteriorated significantly.

Ms Lightbourn issued her stark assessment, warning that nurses’ patience is wearing thin over longstanding grievances, including outstanding promotions, overtime, and mileage payments.

She said nurses will meet this week to decide their next course of action.

She told The Tribune that some of the issues date back to 2023 and that recent meetings with the Department of Public Health have yielded little progress.

She showed this newspaper a list indicating that more than 20 nurses are awaiting matters related to promotions. Among them is the acting Director of Nursing, who has not yet been confirmed in the post.

“I met with the minister on a number of occasions, and he would have asked the minister responsible to action these things, yet Miss Bowe is still sitting in the seat as an acting director of nursing and not yet confirmed,” the BNU president told The Tribune.

“You have the police force. They have their commissioner. They don’t have an acting commissioner. You don’t have an acting commodore in the defence force, so why nurses have to act and act for so long?”

Ms Lightbourn also said she receives almost daily calls from public health nurses asking when they will receive outstanding mileage and overtime payments.

“Why are they not taking it as seriously as they took it for PHA?” she said, referring to protests earlier this year by Public Hospitals Authority nurses over outstanding pay. “The nurses in DPH, they’re not happy about it.”

She said officials have repeatedly told her the matters are being addressed and asked nurses to wait until June.

However, Ms Lightbourn said the grace period has expired, and nurses are no longer prepared to wait.

“We’re not prepared to wait that long,” she said. “It doesn't benefit us to stop services. We don't want to do that. We kept thinking ‘Let's talk’ but how much longer are we going to talk? Even the word of God say, faith without works is dead.”

She said nurses will meet this week to decide how to proceed.

“When I sit down and have a conversation with our nurses, I'm going to tell them what the situation is,” she said. “I’ll put it on the plate for them, and I’ll let them decide. Tell me what you want to do. Some of our nurses are working in these clinics under hazardous conditions, not just in New Providence, but Family Islands. Clinics have mould and stuff like that. Nurses are getting sick.”

Ms Lightbourn said she filed a complaint with the acting Director of Public Health about conditions in some clinics, but was asked to provide proof that nurses were becoming ill with respiratory issues.

She also urged Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville to be more aware of what is happening within the healthcare system.

Speaking on Guardian Radio’s Morning Blend in February, Dr Lockhart said the public healthcare system is struggling with chronic shortages of staff, equipment and supplies.

“We are in dire straits, I would say, and I’m going to say some things that probably would not be popular with the administration, and that might not be popular with the Bahamian people,” Dr Lockhart said.

The paediatrician said that despite recent capital investments at PMH, including the construction of a paediatric unit and the Accident and Emergency Department, those facilities remain unequipped and understaffed.

“It is worse than I’ve ever seen,” she said. “I’ve been in the public hospital for the last 22 years.”

Dr Lockhart also described instances where basic equipment was unavailable in the paediatric emergency room, recalling a case in which she lacked the tools to remove a foreign object from a child’s nose and had to retrieve the necessary instrument from her private practice.

“I cannot sit there and not be able to do something in the pediatric emergency room that I can do in my office,” she said. “It’s crazy to me.”

She also criticised what she described as poor deployment of specialised staff and warned that the continued strain on healthcare workers is contributing to burnout and the loss of skilled personnel.