Govt working to put systems in place to assist Region 10 nurses – RHO

The Regional Health Officer (RHO) of Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice), Dr Gregory Harris, has assured that Government is working to put in place relevant systems that would assist in improving the livelihood and work environment of nurses within the Region.

In a recent discourse with members of the media, Dr Harris noted that Member of Parliament Dr Jennifer Westford met recently with nurses in the region on behalf of the Government and fruitful discussions were engaged in.
Nurses in the region recently staged protest action as they called for a number of incentives, and according to Dr Harris, these issues were among those discussed.
“…she had a fruitful discussion with the union and also the nurses. So, I think they’ve established a common ground between the three entities. There (are) certain things that they would have requested; (they) put (those) forward to her as the Government, and she’s going to look into those things”, Dr Harris stated.
“The risk allowance issue has been addressed by Central Government…one of the things that we’d also like to do is provide little incentives. We plan on doing that…throughout the year we will continue to support them, communicate with them, and we’ll try our best to respond to their needs,” he added.
The RHO said the nurses had also made a few critical recommendations, some of which have already been put in place, including increased access to face masks.
“One of the things some of the nurses were complaining about was the number of masks they would have received, so we would have increased that, the number of masks they have access to,” he indicated.
Dr Harris explained that nurses and other healthcare workers within the region would also benefit from improvements in sanitisation of their work environments.
“One of the things that we’re also going to do, because the nurses are so important; we want them to work in a safe environment, so what we’re going to do, we’re going to put systems in place to make them feel safe and comfortable. One of those systems is that we’re going to buy those walk-through sanitizers that sanitize your entire body. We’re going to place them at all 3 of the hospitals,” he noted.
According to the RHO, the walk-through sanitizers have already been procured. He added that humidifiers will be placed at the Linden Hospital Emergency Department as well as the Isolation Unit at the Upper Demerara Hospital (UDH) to help healthcare workers and visitors to feel safer in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ll make sure the hospital has constant supply of PPE (personal protective equipment) so that our staff can feel comfortable and safe…that is the objective”, he said.
The RHO also noted that day and night transportation for nurses would continue throughout the region. (G13)