Narace: We fired no one

Narace said while foreigners were hired, the Ministry tried to build capacity among locals so they could go into service. “These jobs belong to locals. What has happened at the PoSGH was that locals have been now recruited for those positions,” he said.

But at a press conference at the St Clair office of his private medical practice, Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh alleged that the Filipino pharmacists were fired after they refused to be transferred from PoSGH to the St James Hospital.

“My own research shows that this shortage was compounded by the NWRHA’s illegal firing of five Filipino pharmacists two weeks ago, after they refused and rightly so, to be transferred to the St James Hospital to work in the Chemotherapy Department, citing health risks and lack of training to mix chemotherapy drugs.”

Gopeesingh said the firings had left the remaining PoSGH pharmacists “stressed and overworked”.

Gopeesingh also claimed the public health service is short of some 178 doctors and 1,250 nurses. He lamented that the SWRHA had fired their patient care assistants at San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH), where he claimed every day some 25 to 30 patients must each wait for 24 hours to 48 hours to get a bed.

But Narace said no Filipino pharmacist had had his/her contract terminated. On the issue of patients’ lengthy wait for drugs at the dispensary, Narace said this was caused by the filling of prescriptions.

“There is a lot of writing, notes to be taken – legal requirements,” Narace said. He added that information from the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary from the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the North-West Regional Health Authority indicated, “on the two days in question, 600 prescriptions had to be filled.”

He said this was the average for the hospital and the half-hour wait experienced by patients was the time it would take normally. However, the elderly continued to wait a long time for service at the outpatient dispensary yesterday. Newsday learnt there was only one pharmacist working with assistants.

A source disclosed that Narace visited the PoSGH after 1 pm to see what was going on at the dispensary and spoke to staff on duty. He also listened to members of the public who were waiting.

Gopeesingh said the UNC proposed a plan to transform the public health service called the ‘360 degree health care continuum’ in which patients would be able to access a fund to take legal action against Government for poor service.

He showed reporters a letter he had sent to Acting Commissioner of Police, James Philbert, asking him to probe media reports that public hospital patients are being told to pay bribes of up to $17,000 to be fitted with orthopaedic surgical pins. Gopeesingh said he is due to move a motion on the state of the health sector next Wednesday in the House of Representatives.