Front-line health-care providers assured their concerns will be addressed

Hundreds of front-line health-care providers who had outlined a list of concerns to Government surrounding its safe zones, have been assured they issues will be addressed as a matter of urgency.

The revelation came on Friday from Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Richard Greene, after another round of talks with Acting Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams, Senior Medical Officer of Health, Dr Anton Best and other representatives from the Ministry of Health.

Greene said one of the union’s biggest worries was the gap between the period when vaccinated health-care workers and the unvaccinated ones are to be tested for COVID-19.

“The union raised some questions with the Minister; and one of the first questions we had was the science behind the determinant of the gap between when the vaccinated persons and unvaccinated persons would be tested. That is in relation to the obvious knowledge we have now that vaccinated persons can contract the virus and also can give it to persons. So, we just asked for clarity on that,” the NUPW Acting General Secretary told Barbados TODAY.

“We also had concerns that this safe zone policy was going to require additional human resources. Already there is a shortage of staff within many areas within the health-care sector,” Greene stated.

He said the union was worried about what provisions the Government intended to make in order to address the shortfall in front-line caregivers who are already stretched from long hours of serving Barbadians.

“We got a commitment to address it; but obviously we were sill asking for a greater commitment. We also had concerns about the availability of adequate supplies for testing and if they are going to be able to consistently maintain the level of testing,” the Acting NUPW General Secretary disclosed.

The union leader said the front-line workers were also concerned about patient care in circumstances when shifts were changing.

“We also had questions about handing over and patient care. By that I mean, when people move from one shift to the other; when you got that shortfall that causes problems. Obviously, that is a function of the shortage in the human resources in the health-care sector,” Greene pointed out.

He said the public service trade union also queried the availability of the new nasal swab to replace the more invasive one that currently exists.

“Because of the intrusiveness of the existing test, workers were hesitant to take it with that level of frequency. We asked when the new one would be on stream. They said they are doing it [introducing the new test] as a matter of urgency because they want to employ it, not only in the health-care sector, but in a number of other areas as well,” the union chief added.

Greene told Barbados TODAY that the NUPW was also assured that the health-care employees would not be discriminated against within the safe zones amidst earlier union fears that the requirement to be tested or vaccinated in order to carry out their duties, would change the terms and conditions of employment.

“Our main concern was the whole thing of discrimination in the workplace; the Anti-Discriminatory legislation … how the new provisions [in the safe zones] would have gone contrary to that. But they said that the Emergency Powers now override that legislation,” he recalled.

The Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic has already publicly stated that Government would be reviewing the safe zones provisions as a result of concerns expressed, not only by the union but by doctors and dentists.

Under the current Emergency Management COVID-19 (Amendment) Order 2021, which was published in the Official Gazette on November 6, an employee who is fully vaccinated, is required to be tested for the virus at least once every 42 days; and those not fully vaccinated, at least once every 7 days, or at such other intervals as the Chief Medical Officer determines.

An employee who makes a false or misleading statement or produces a false or misleading document to the person in charge of the institution to prove that he was tested for COVID-19 and the test was negative; or that he has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of $50 000 or to imprisonment for a term of one year or to both. (EJ)