From tomorrow, doctors at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH) will be treating with emergency cases only if they are not given some assurances that measures will be put in place to ensure their safety.
The call came yesterday after an intern doctor was accosted and robbed in the hospital's carpark after completing her tour of duty just after midnight.
Making the request was the North West Doctors' Association (NWDA) with the full backing of supporting staff from the Trinidad and Tobago Registered Nurses' Association. The doctors said they would be forced to take action to ensure their safety during the conduct of their duty. The NWDA said the intern was robbed of $300 but given what transpired it could have been worse.
According to reports, the intern left for home around midnight and was walking towards her car parked in a poorly lit area at the back of the hospital. On her way there a man pretended to be lost and asked for directions to the Intensive Care Unit.
The intern escorted the man, who was described as Afro-Trini, with yellow eyes and wearing a white T-shirt, to ICU. However, as she attempted to leave the man pulled out a gun and ordered her to a secluded area in the car park where she was robbed.
The intern, her colleagues said, was made to walk past four vacant guard booths from ICU to where she was robbed near the Blood Bank, north of the maternity ward.
The association added that most recent incident broke the camel's back, noting that there had been other instances where doctors were threatened at gunpoint by patients, or nurses were sexually assaulted by patients and when complaints were made to the security they were told the officers were there to guard property and not people.
"Look at how far this girl walked, look at how many checkpoints she passed through without even a security guard present. The North West Doctors Association, which is representing the needs of the doctors, have demanded that a police post be placed at the PoSGH with immediate effect.
"We were promised this since the prison break (last year) but nothing has been done since. The security companies employed here, we have no confidence in them at all," members of the NWDA executive told the media following a meeting.
The association called on the security firms–Heller Security Services and Security Analysis Services (SAS)–to be fired and a new company granted the contract to secure both the premises and the people on it. They are also calling for security cameras and proper lighting surrounding the hospital.
In a telephone interview yesterday chief executive officer of the North West Regional Health Authority, Sheldon Cyrus, said he would meet with the NWDA today to hear their concerns but could not yet say what would be done to allay their fears. On the complaints about the security companies, Cyrus said the claims were not true as the board would not hire a company to protect property and disregard the lives of people.
TTRNA vice-chairman Kerne Ramnath said yesterday his membership would support any action by the doctors, noting his membership had also been told by security guards that their role was to secure property and not people.
One nurse at Port-of-Spain yesterday recalled a case when a patient threatened her. She said she lodged a complaint with the security but was told they could not touch the patients. She was forced to report the matter to the police.
"We will support the doctors because we have been having issues regarding security who are not engaged in protecting and serving.
"Is years now regional health authorities continue to have issues regarding security. There have been break-ins and robberies on the compound and where security? The people who serve the public with all their heart are the ones suffering," Ramnath said.
Health Minister Terrance Deyalsingh, meanwhile, told the T&T Guardian he had ordered an investigation into the incident.