AFTER several days of staff sick outs, services at Princess Margaret Hospital continued to be affected Friday.
In a statement released by the Public Hospital Authority, officials said “following a staff ‘sick out’ for the past eight days, normal operations at the Grand Bahama Health Services and Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre have resumed.”
However, PHA said, the PMH continues to be affected as a result of service delays.
Workers are participating in a sick-out in protest of the government’s honorarium exercise. They are upset that many deserving people did not get the gift while others who were not on the frontline of the COVID-19 fight have received the honorarium.
Speaking about the issue Thursday, Health Minister Renward Wells told reporters that officials are still involved in discussions with unions to bring a resolve to the matter.
“We have a union that is currently taking actions so to speak that is the Bahamas Public Service Union. The other unions that are the nurses, doctors, the junior doctors and the consultant physician's union, we’re talking with them as well to ensure that we are always on board collectively together, working together to expand and deliver the kind of requisite healthcare for the Bahamian people,” the health minister said.
Mr Wells’ driver and personal assistant were among those awarded the honorarium, a situation that has further angered staff.
Although he asked the two staffers to return the $1,158.40 to the government, Progressive Liberal Party chairman Fred Mitchell has called on the minister to do the “honourable thing” and resign.
When asked for comment about the controversy and calls for his resignation, Mr Wells replied: “I think I would’ve spoken definitively on that subject. I’m not going to go back over that again. I think I would’ve very clearly articulated the circumstances and how I would’ve liked to proceed and proceeded. So, as I said before on Tuesday, what is on the record as I’ve spoken will remain on the record.”
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