Nurses body demands apology from MPATT

THE Trinidad and Tobago Registered Nurses Assoc-iation (TTRNA), is calling on the Medical Professionals Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MPATT) to issue a public apology to Valerie Rawlins, former president of the TTRNA who was appointed Director, Health and Service Quality Management at the Ministry of Health. MPATT had called for an inquiry into the appointment of Rawlins, saying she was a nurse with no special qualifications or postgraduate degree, and therefore did not meet the minimum requirements to be appointed as a senior to other specialists in the ministry. But in defence of Rawlins, the TTRNA is demanding an apology saying that “doctors are well aware that the responsibilities placed on nurses in the delivery of health care make them eminently qualified to function in many other administrative levels in the system.”

The Association further stated that MPATT did not consider the full range of training and experience Rawlins has in the health sector, which they went to pains to point out. They stated that Rawlins is a licensed midwife and intensive care nurse, who obtained in 1995 a certificate in Quality Management from the UWI/Institute of Business. That certificate they argued enabled Rawlins to secure the contract position of Manager in the then newly established Quality Management Directo-rate at the Ministry. Rawlins they continued also got a diploma in health administration from Georgia State University and was appointed Acting Nursing Supervisor at the ICU at the San Fernando General Hospital.

She is also qualified as an Accreditation Surveyor from the Joint Commission for Health Care Organisations, Chicago, USA, and is a member of the International Society for Quality in Health Care. She at one time was the technical advisor to the ministers of health at a Commonwealth Health Ministers conference and Directing Council meetings of the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation. The TTRNA added that Rawlins has been working in the ministry since 1993 and had worked in different administrative capacities under various political administrations. They credited her for being responsible for designing and directing the quality directorate at the ministry and bringing it to its present form.