The Tribune

WHEN Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis sounded the call for members of the medical profession to come to the front line of the battle against COVID-19, it seems he could hardly have met with a less enthusiastic response.

In yesterday’s Tribune, we took doctors in private practice to task who were reluctant to come into contact with virus patients, instead seeking to handle phone lines or protesting they had not been trained with protective gear.

Today, alas, it is time to question some nurses. The Bahamas Nurses Union has protested about changes in working shifts amid the crisis.

There has been a move from five shifts on and two off to four on and four off – a move that affects about 50 nurses.

The union has thrown up its arms. In 2018, the union had acquired a strike certificate in a bid to stop such a shift change. Why the change now? The Public Hospitals Authority has pointed out that there is an emergency going on. A national state of emergency.

Accordingly, it has changed some shifts around to ensure there is enough staffing in all public health facilities to deal with the disaster that has befallen the world.

The union leadership is, apparently, incensed, and – it is alleged – has urged members to reject the shift changes.

If so we would urge the union to think again. This is not the time to be combative. You want to fight over changes to working hours that the hospital thinks it needs to keep people healthy? Look at the unemployment lines where people have no working hours and be thankful. No, more than that, look at the wards where coronavirus patients are fighting for their lives and remember why you became nurses.

If you want to have a fight save it until the crisis is over. Until then, show up and try your hardest because your country needs you. When the crisis has passed, by all means remind the country how much we needed you, but until then, don’t pick a fight.

Work with management to ensure the best outcome for the patients having to navigate their way through the health system at this time. If you have better ideas for delivering care at this time, suggest them to those in authority – because no one has a monopoly on good ideas. The goal here is to ensure that as many patients as possible recover safely from the virus, and those needing care in other critical areas during this time are able to get that care – all the while keeping medical professionals safe and healthy too.

Squabbles about shifts and unions digging in their heels right now will receive little to no public sympathy.

As Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands said, “We have a nation of people that’s counting on us and we have to be there for them.”

So will you be there? Or will you be sitting at home refusing to work when the hospital says it needs you to work? The choice is yours – the nation expects you to make the right one.