Underscoring the “critical” challenges facing Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) said yesterday that three wards remain closed due to the need for renovations, and only three of eight operating theaters are functioning due in part to staffing challenges and the need for parts for critical equipment, which is being impacted by financial and supply chain challenges.

Responding to questions from The Nassau Guardian, the PHA said it was awaiting the allocation of funding to carry out needed renovations.

Forty-five beds in the hospital are not available for use, the authority said.

PHA said Male Medical I was removed from service due to water intrusion which reduced the bed capacity by 16 in 2019.

Male Surgical II was removed from service in 2018 due to water intrusion and a condemned AC system which reduced bed capacity by 14 beds.

The Eye Ward was removed from service in 2022 due to structural concerns with the flooring which reduced bed capacity by 15 beds.

Female Surgical Wards I and II returned to service on Monday upon the completion of the necessary repairs to the AC system, PHA said.

This returned 25 beds for service.

The PHA also said the hospital has available 53 COVID beds which add to the official bed count but are limited in use due to their purpose and current function.

Asked when these wards will be renovated, PHA said, “COVID-19 delayed the necessary repairs to the respective wards due to access to the hospital and related challenges. We await the allocation of funding to proceed with the necessary renovations.”

The PHA said that while the PMH has maintenance schedules, it is facing challenges with procurement of parts due to vendors’ availability and delays in shipping.

The authority also addressed staffing challenges in response to Nassau Guardian questions.

Asked whether it is true that it is almost impossible to maintain ordinary levels of service in the Intensive Care Unit, operating theaters, Dialysis Unit and Accident and Emergency Department due to a shortage of trained, registered nurses, the PHA said, “In some areas, we are operating at reduced levels due to our staffing shortages inclusive of nurses, anaesthetists, and anaesthetic assistants.”

It said dialysis is functioning with nurses and trained technicians.

Retention and recruitment of nurses has long been a subject of discussion in relation to healthcare at PMH.

The PHA explained just how much of a challenge the country’s health system faces in this crucial area.

PHA noted that many nurses have been recruited by the United States of America and Canada, which has resulted in nurses leaving the PHA.

It said, “This is a shared crisis among other Caribbean countries and while we are not able to compete with their compensation and benefits package, we are reviewing what we can do to retain our current nursing staff. We are also actively seeking opportunities with English-speaking countries to recruit the registered nurses we need to meet our needs across the PHA.”

In response to a question, the PHA also said, “The onboarding of Cuban nurses provided us the necessary support and shared manpower for our nursing staff. However, this presented challenges with a language barrier. We are hopeful that our ongoing efforts to recruit from English-speaking countries will afford us an opportunity to meet our most critical staffing needs.”

The PHA confirmed that the waiting list for patients needing non-urgent surgical attention has grown, blaming the COVID-19 pandemic response.

With regard to the renovation of the Accident and Emergency (A&E) section of PMH, the authority said, “The Urgent and Emergency Care Project began in 2017 with construction beginning in 2019. We anticipate this project to continue, with possible completion within 18-22 months as we navigate the construction process while maintaining the hospital’s day-to-day operations.”

Critical state

The PHA also said the challenges facing PMH and other PHA facilities are not “catastrophic” but are, rather, “critical” and that those challenges must be addressed “aggressively and with expediency”.

“What we are experiencing [are] decades of challenges within our facilities, with our recruitment and retention exercises and overall, our implementation and enforcement of policies and procedures,” it said.

“We do not wish to understate or diminish the dire state of our hospitals as we want the Bahamian public to be fully aware of our challenges, but we welcome the public to partner with us to improve our hospitals and re-imagine the PHA and PMH.”

The PHA asserted that the public could assist by only utilizing the Accident and Emergency Department for emergencies, by adopting and promoting healthier lifestyles that would reduce the challenges due to noncommunicable diseases.

The PHA said the current state of affairs is not ideal, but it is manageable by the dedicated teams across the PHA and PMH.

“The team members are stretched, but resilient in their commitment to administer quality care to all patients,” it said.

“We must address this at both ends, to ensure we are procuring the necessary equipment and resources, recruiting, and retaining trained healthcare professionals while simultaneously shifting our country to be healthier and more aware of our lifestyle choices that present long-term challenges for both themselves and the nation.

“COVID-19 exposed our shortcomings, and we must take this opportunity to renew, refresh and re-imagine the PHA, inclusive of PMH, in an effort to revitalize our quality of service and commitment to care.”

A Supreme Court judge last night declared that the Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) is in breach of the Industrial Relations Act by calling a strike among its members who are workers at airports in the country.

The industrial action caused operations at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) to slow to a crawl yesterday, resulting in great frustration among passengers, as the workers took action over the government’s failure to conclude an industrial agreement and provide money union officials say is owed.

About 90 percent of the 200-plus BPSU members at LPIA, including non-management staff like firefighters, security and screening staff, plus 107 employees at 17 airports around the Family Islands, did not report to work, according to Director of Labour Robert Farquharson.

Farquharson confirmed to The Nassau Guardian early this morning that Justice Denise Lewis-Johnson granted the Airport Authority an interlocutory injunction against the BPSU at 9:47 last night.

The judge granted a declaration that the union is in breach of sections 76 and 77 of the act by calling, organizing, inducing, inciting or procuring its officers and/or members to continue to participate in industrial action amounting to a strike.

The judge also granted an order restraining the BPSU from continuing to contravene the act by having the workers refuse to report to work when scheduled to do so, or leave their employment or otherwise participate in any form of industrial action.

Additionally, she ordered the BPSU to instruct its officers and members to return to work, and not to take part in or continue to take part in any form of industrial action.

Farquharson said, “This means that anyone who continues in industrial unrest will not only be accountable to the Airport Authority for disciplinary reasons, but will also be accountable to the court as this would be seen as a direct and wilful act against the Supreme Court of The Bahamas.”

It was not immediately clear whether the BPSU and its members intend to abide by the ruling. BPSU President Kimsley Ferguson was not reachable this morning.

The action yesterday had a significant impact on operations at LPIA.

Around 2 p.m., hundreds of passengers were on long lines in the international departures terminal with many of them expressing frustrations and worries that they would miss their flights.

At the end of the evening, Managing Director of the Bahamas Airport Authority (BAA) Peter Rutherford reported, “There were some late afternoon flights that were affected and caused an above average number of customers to miss their flights.”

Rutherford said 4,900 passengers passed through LPIA yesterday.

Early in the day, Minister of Labour Keith Bell said the action taken at the airports was illegal.

Bell said that on July 27, 2020, then-Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes issued a strike certificate to the BPSU for its members employed at the Airport Authority.

He advised that on February 27, 2021, Foulkes, in accordance with Section 76 of the Industrial Relations Act, referred the dispute to the Bahamas Industrial Tribunal.

“At 8:12 a.m. this morning, Mr. Ferguson was advised by the director of labor that the matter regarding the trade dispute on outstanding payments owed to the members of the BPSU employed by the Airport Authority was referred to the Industrial Tribunal and as such any industrial action, including a planned sick out, taken by the BPSU, could be deemed illegal,” Bell said.

“In that conversation, President Ferguson acknowledged the advice given by Director Farquharson.”

Bell asked the BPSU workers to “return to work forthwith”.

“As minister of labor, I am now prepared to intervene personally in this matter along with Director Farquharson and senior officers within my ministry and formally invite the president of the BPSU to the bargaining table to resolve all outstanding matters amicably,” he said.

Bell said the BAA management had a copy of a voice note from Ferguson purportedly instructing BPSU members who work for the BAA to “go to the doctor and obtain sick certificates for five days and lock the place down”.

Bell pointed out that the failure to return to work could expose BPSU members to a $200 fine and/or three months in prison. The law allows a $10,000 fine for a union that contravenes the Industrial Tribunal stay.

The minister sidestepped questions on whether the government would push for the application of these penalties.

‘Strong-arm tactic’

Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper, who has Cabinet responsibility for tourism and aviation, was at LPIA early yesterday and reiterated that the referral of the matter to the tribunal meant that the industrial action should cease.

“We are not going to take this laying down,” he said.

“We are going to employ all of what’s available to us under the law to ensure that the residents and our tourists and traveling public are not adversely impacted.”

Farquharson said since September 2021, the government has paid $851,000 in money owed to BPSU members at the BAA, primarily those who are employed on the Family Islands.

“There are some additional monies that are owed,” he said.

“The government was in discussion with Mr. Ferguson and the executives of the BPSU last week with the financial secretary with the view to identifying those monies owed and having them paid at the earliest possible opportunity.

“There are ongoing discussions and we formally invite Mr. Ferguson and his team to the bargaining table to identify those issues, to identify the monies owed, and see how quickly the government can allocate the funding to facilitate these monies that are outstanding for some time.”

Cooper added that it was “most unfortunate” that the United States (US) Transportation Security Administration (TSA) happened to be inspecting LPIA yesterday.

The TSA is an agency of the US Department of Homeland Security that has authority over the security of transportation systems within and connecting to the US.

“The timing of this action could not be worse,” Cooper said.

“But we have opportunity to demonstrate that, under pressure, we can put in place a contingency plan to ensure the smooth operations of the airports across the country.”

In relation to the outstanding matter with the BPSU, Cooper said, “We thought we were making significant progress over the past eight or nine months.

“We asked for compromise, we asked for patience on behalf of the Bahamian people. The action today, we think, is a strong-arm tactic, and we are going to do what’s best for the Bahamian people.

“We will not allow the interests of a few to trump the interests of the wider Bahamian community … We will negotiate in good faith, but we will not be held over a barrel. We will not be strong-armed. We will do what’s in the interests of the Bahamian people; all of the Bahamian people.”

Meanwhile, Gladstone Adderley, president of the Airport Airline and Allied Workers Union (AAAWU) – which represents Bahamasair and Nassau Flight Services – said the industrial action was not an AAAWU action. Nonetheless, Adderley confirmed that his union is also pushing to conclude industrial agreements.

“We have two we are dealing with,” he said.

“… They deferred everything that deals with money, but we are about to start negotiating with the articles pertaining to the flight attendants. And then, I guess, they’ll come to us with the money.

“I wouldn’t go as far as saying [we are satisfied] because we haven’t talked about money yet. They keep deferring everything. Plus, Nassau Flight Services keeps prolonging and prolonging when we are going to start with their negotiations. They say they are having a board meeting today (Monday) to determine when they are going to start negotiations.”

Last evening, Rutherford, the managing director of the Airport Authority, said LPIA was preparing for a possible continuance of the BPSU industrial action today.

“However,” he said, “we are hopeful that tomorrow (Tuesday) we have a full contingent on hand, but planning for the worst, nonetheless.”

Rutherford’s comment was made prior to the judge issuing the injunction against the union.

After multiple employees at airports across the country followed through with the Airport Airline and Allied Workers Union's (AAAWU) threat of industrial action today, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation Chester Cooper warned that the Davis administration will not be strong armed.

“We have just received confirmation from the minister of labor and the director of labour, we expect that this matter is going to be referred to the Industrial Tribunal first thing this morning, and as a result these actions should officially cease,” Cooper told reporters at Lynden Pindling International Airport.

“We are not going to take this lying down. We are going to employ all that’s available to us under the law to ensure…that our traveling public is not adversely impacted.”

The minister confirmed that employees at various airports across the country called in sick today. However, he did not have the official count.

He said while industrial action was ongoing, members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Royal Bahamas Defence Force will assist at the airports to minimize disruptions.

“The action today we thing is a strong arm tactic,” Cooper said.

The failure of the Airport Authority to conclude an industrial agreement with the AAAWU has lead to industrial action at LPIA and Family Island airports.

Kimsley Ferguson, first vice president of the Bahamas National Alliance Trade Union Congress, under which the AAAWU falls, said yesterday that the union and authority have not had harmony “for a long time”.

The issue stems from protracted negotiations. According to Ferguson, a deal was reached but could not be executed because the dates the agreement covered had already expired.

Cooper said the government thought negotiations were going well.

“We will continue to talk to the union to negotiate in good faith,” Cooper added. “We do not consider the actions today in good faith, but we are going to continue to act on behalf of the Bahamian people and in the best interest of the Bahamian people.”

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard has called on the government to disclose the details of a lawsuit settlement concluded with two senior police officers, including the rationale behind the move.

Senior police officers Clayton Fernander - the new police Commissioner - and Leamond Deleveaux filed a lawsuit against the government in 2019 after they were asked to take their accumulated vacation leave that year.

According to their attorney, Bjorn Ferguson, the case was progressing towards a trial date.

However, after the Davis administration took office last year, Mr Ferguson said that he invited officials to look at the case because he claimed nothing was filed by the former government in response to their court documents.

“They prepared an opinion and invited us to do the same,” the attorney said. “We then came to the table and commenced settlement discussions. We had it all finalised on the June 12 and the matter came to an end.”

Mr Ferguson did not disclose the amount settled by both parties.

However, Mr Pintard said the question of how much was awarded is something that needs to be answered.

He also urged the government to give the Bahamian people an explanation on why the matter was settled and the motive behind it.

“The PLP administration is developing a clear pattern of settling matters that were either in court or headed to court without providing a clear explanation on why these matters were being settled,” the FNM leader told The Tribune “In at least two cases I could think of, they were being settled without the government disclosing the amount of monies for which these matter were being settled.”

“I last raised this matter with respect to the financial secretary who to the best of my knowledge suffered no loss of income during the period he had been relieved of his duties until the government was changed in September of last year.”

He continued: “In this case, these officers I was advised, were receiving their salaries and they have suffered no financial loss and their attorney may argue then that they may have suffered an embarrassment and they may have suffered an inconvenience, etc, and if that is the case then ordinarily, these kinds of settlements are done for nominal amounts in this jurisdiction like ours. So, we need to see the quantum.

“Are they being compensated for the inconvenience, the embarrassment and any misfortune in that category? (Because) that would be substantially different if they were receiving now hundreds of thousands or millions which seems to be the pattern of this administration without explanation, then that raises additional questions about the rationale and the motives of this administration and, bear in mind, that one of the officers is the lead of a very high profile matter as well.”

The FNM leader said by not disclosing the details of the settlement, the government has “unwittingly” opened up the high-ranking officials to scrutiny from some who may now speculate whether they will be able to perform their jobs impartially and without bias.

“These are two extremely sensitive jobs and police officers are expected to operate free of political interference and in the absence of the government, giving a proper rationale for the financial settlement which they are entering into as well as the amount,” Mr Pintard added.

“What the government has unwittingly done is open these officers up to extreme scrutiny by members of the public who will naturally begin to speculate whether or not they are able to carry out their work with impartiality.

“And I will go further as to say that the officers should, in the absence of a government explanation and details relative to what that settlement is, should refuse to take that position so they are not put in this untenable position that the government is putting them in.

“Not merely the optics of it but the very nature of their job demands that these matters be handled with a high degree of transparency which the government is refusing to provide.”

The senior officers were among eight high ranking officials who were directed to take vacation leave in 2019.

Although the Minnis administration justified the vacation policy by citing fiscal measures, the officers have come to believe that the administration simply wanted to sideline them.

When their vacation leave ended, they were sent on special assignments at various ministries for a year.

Outgoing Commissioner Paul Rolle recently said he never supported them being placed on leave.

He also noted that he felt “betrayed” and “deceived” by the Minnis administration in its handling of three high-ranking police officers.

Asked to respond to Mr Rolle’s comments yesterday, Mr Pintard said: “His comments being made at this time against the backdrop of what we now know the government has done in terms of the settlement further makes it even more urgent for the government to come forward with an explanation because again, it comes across to some members of the public as being timed to coincide with all that has been happening behind the scenes and that may or may not be the case. However, the Prime Minister entering this discussion and bringing clarity might very well be able to set the record straight, but right now it is quite muddy.”

Mr Fernander and Mr Deleveaux are expected to be sworn in today as police commissioner and deputy police commissioner respectively.