Following reported threats to Cuban medical personnel, Health Minister Fuad Khan has sought police protection for the Cubans while they work at the Sangre Grande district hospital where workers recently walked off the job.Workers have complained since last month of health and safety issues at the hospital and the Public Services Association (PSA) has taken up their case, with workers staying off the job this week.
At yesterday's post-Cabinet media briefing, Khan said he had instructed the institution's CEO to issue letters to the workers notifying them they had violated the OSH Act (Section 14 2B) and could be penalised by termination or brought before the courts for legal action."I'm going to take termination action if I have to," he said.
Khan later told T&T Guardian the institution's authorities would be asked to look into the possibility of a legal injunction to bar PSA president Watson Duke from the grounds for "rabble rousing," since Khan said PSA was not the bargaining unit for the workers involved.He said workers at T&T's medical facilities could not refuse to work but they had walked off the job, sanctioned by the PSA. He said unfortunately, young children and patients had been caught in the industrial issue.
Khan said he had ordered most of the available Cuban personnel in T&T, about 100 members, including radiographers, pharmacists, to man the institution. He said the local employees involved in the industrial action included pharmacists responsible for mixing anti-cancer drugs and radiographers.Khan said he had heard reports that the Cuban workers were told they would be shot if they worked at the Sangre Grande facility but he felt it was not serious.
Still, he said he had notified the police and also assured the Cuban ambassador yesterday that protection was being sought for the Cuban workers.Khan said the Cuban medics would be mandated to look after the very ill patients at the facility but other patients who are not as ill may have to go to centres in other areas.Asked if it was wise to issue warning letters to the protesting employees, Khan asked if it was a wise decision for the PSA to close down the institution, violate the law and leave patients in the lurch and at possible risk of death.
Khan said there were certain procedures that had to be followed in OSH matter and this wasn't being done."You don't just walk of the jobs and sign 'OSH Act' as an excuse," he said.Contacted yesterday, Duke called Khan reckless and unstable and said he was ignoring the health of both patients and workers at the hospital."One day Khan jumps to the media and says he will shut down the hospital if it is unsafe and then he is saying something different now," Duke said.
Khan threatened to shut down the hospital earlier this month following his failure to appear in a court matter with the PSA.Duke said Khan was not taking the situation seriously."Nurses are just saying to make the hospital safe. Last week they reported that a cat jumped from the ceiling on to a patient in the Casualty Department. A nurses was injured when a piece of iron fell and hit her. Check the books, it is recorded there."