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  • 8 minutes ago
Nurses say Budget 2027 has left them without the relief they were promised, despite assurances that their outstanding concerns would be addressed. Newly installed President of the Trinidad and Tobago National Nurses Association, Letitia Cox, says nursing personnel continue to feel overlooked as critical issues remain unresolved.

TV6's Nicole M. Romany has the story.
Transcript
00:00Newly installed president of the TTNNA, Letitia Cox, tells the TV6 Morning Edition nurses are angry.
00:08She says the finance minister promised relief in the 2027 fiscal package, but that promise was not kept.
00:16Why we are sad and why we are disappointed is because of a promise he made in his mid-year
00:22budget review.
00:23He indicated that nurses and everyone else who were waiting for relief would have been addressed in this budget, but
00:31that was not so.
00:32Yeah. What's the feeling among your membership at this time?
00:35Our membership, I must say, they are very angry. So it's a mixture of disappointment and anger.
00:42Cox says nurses continue to work long hours, adding that lives are lost in hospitals that should not have been
00:49lost because nursing personnel are inadequately resourced.
00:53She further highlights the continued staffing shortages at the NCRAG.
00:58I have always said that we are collateral damage in the fight for scarce resources within the health care system.
01:07Yes, we would have gotten a big portion, but that big portion, where is it going?
01:11Is it going to facilitate upper and executive management hirings?
01:16Is it really going to, you know, deal with the staffing that you need?
01:21I heard about expansion of services in different areas, in NCRAG and so on.
01:27But what about the staffing? Can you afford to bring in new staff?
01:32The association president also points to millions allocated for police overtime, noting that nurses keep getting the short end of
01:41the stick.
01:41In the male-dominated profession of the police service, because it's mostly males there, we saw some other positive things
01:49coming from those who are leading the police service when the overtime was quoted as $800 million.
01:55I am not angry with them, you know.
01:56I am happy that their service is valued, what they are doing, because, of course, we want the police presence
02:02on the street.
02:02We want to feel safe, so they should be paid for any additional hours that they work.
02:07Why is it different for nurses?
02:09Why is it different for midwives?
02:12Isn't health care important to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago?
02:16Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
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