00:00Nurses are now pushing back against the system used to fill staffing gaps in public hospitals.
00:07So as long as the RHAs, and particularly the NCRHA, as long as their numbers of nursing and medical personnel
00:16remain low, the pool will always be high.
00:20So whether it's one nurse working the pool, if that nurse refused to work, they will need another nurse to
00:28work the pool.
00:28So the amount of pool would always remain constant prior to today, prior to last week.
00:39It would have always remained high.
00:41Stewart says recent remarks by NCRHA chairman Dr. Tim Gupi Singh have triggered a response from nurses, particularly at the
00:50Moncto Pullman's Hospital.
00:51Those statements have now led, have now led to nursing personnel, nursing emergency personnel refusing to work in pool going
01:02forward.
01:02And particularly in the Moncto Pullman's Hospital, particularly in Eric Williams Medical Science Complex Hospital, particularly in Quora Hospital, and
01:15all of the institutions under the North Central Regional Health Authority.
01:21He warns that continued refusals could further strain the public health care system.
01:26If nursing personnel refuse to work those pool arrangements, persons can understand what is happening, what will happen.
01:37And that is exactly what is transpiring as we speak in our nation's hospitals under the purview of the North
01:46Central Regional Health Authority.
01:48Stewart is calling for urgent dialogue between the government and the association to address the issue.
01:53We would expect them to listen to the voice of labor, listen to the cries of the nursing association, listen
02:02to the cries of patients who don't have the ability to go to private institutions or to go to far
02:11-flung institutions in Grandy or in San Fernando or in Portospin to seek treatment.
02:17He also argues that nurses and midwives should be compensated for overtime in line with other sectors.
02:24It is something that every other category of worker in the state sector, every category of worker in the private
02:33sector, currently benefit from.
02:37It is inscribed in the Minimum Wages Act that if you are mandated to work beyond your eight-hour shift,
02:47then you should be compensated accordingly.
02:50Therefore, since Dr. Tim Gopi Singh is finding that the pool rates and the pool payments are too high, will
03:01then begin to pay us overtime.
03:04That may ease his frustration. That may ease his burden.
03:09It's going to be a higher bill, of course, but he has called this upon himself.
03:15With hospital staffing under pressure and the pool refusals continuing, the National Nursing Association says urgent dialogue with the government
03:24is needed to prevent further disruption in patient care.
03:28Charlotte Kisto, TV6 News.
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