Khan: Cutbacks in Health have dire effects

He said the PNM Government has within the last 12 months been cutting expenditure in all public institutions, using the excuse of declining oil and gas revenue from the global market.

He said Government’s unwillingness to pay distributors for critical medication and drugs has caused countless numbers of patients to suffer after the public dispensaries had depleted supplies.

Khan said it was interesting to note that while Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh and Finance Minister Colm Imbert were explaining to the Standing Finance Committee their reasons for $40 million to the construction of the new Arima Hospital, and despite them also having negotiations with the government of China, who were willing to finance the facility, student nurses at the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COST AAT), San Fernando campus, were protesting for not being paid their stipends.

On Monday, student nurses staged a protest complaining of not only the unwillingness of the institution to compensate them for their work, but also the shortage of clinical instructors who not only guide them in their duties, but also assign grades on their courses.

Khan said this meant that not only were these students not afforded the opportunities to perform their duties, but they were also unable to progress and graduate without the requisite training.

He added that this was happening at a time when public health facilities were experiencing a shortage in qualified nursing staff, and the failings of this institution were now preventing these students from filling this void.

He called on Deyalsingh to treat with this matter urgently as staff shortages created an environment in which employees were not only overworked, but where the hospital was also under-staffed, something which the Nursing Programme at COST AAT was meant to prevent.