It is w
.ith a heavy heart that we must once again reach this point. For years, the cries of our nation’s nurses have gone unheard. At the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) and across the healthcare system in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, nurses continue to highlight the many challenges they face daily.
Change is long overdue. MCMH needs fresh eyes and fresh leadership — not a management team stuck in the past, focused on outdated matters such as whether nurses wear caps or scrubs. Meanwhile, the real issues — those that directly affect patient care and the wellbeing of staff — are being ignored.
Too often, nurses are left to perform their duties without the most basic essentials: no paper towels, no gowns, no soap for proper handwashing, no urine bags or containers for samples, limited medications, little to no sheets for patients, no tape or plasters, and air-conditioning units on wards that remain broken. In some wards, the floor tiles are lifting or missing completely, leaving dangerous pothole-like conditions.
Beyond poor working conditions, the workload is unbearable. At times, one nurse with only a ward assistant is responsible for managing an entire ward. Nurses go for months without a proper weekend off. Duty rosters come out late, often on a Friday or Saturday, making it impossible to plan family time. Worse yet, schedules are sometimes changed without notice or explanation, leaving nurses scrambling.
After a 12-hour night shift, nurses are told the following day counts as a “day off” — but that is really just a sleep day, not true rest. Nurses are burnt out, overworked, understaffed, and subjected to verbal and mental abuse. Many are forced to take sick leave just to recover, only to be criticized by management for doing so.
Even vacation days are controlled unfairly. Nurses who request 15 days are given only 10, while senior staff take their full entitlement without question. This double standard is demoralizing.
How can nurses care for the sick and vulnerable when they themselves are not cared for? How can we expect excellence in healthcare when the very backbone of the system — the nurses — are neglected, undervalued, and disrespected?
Nurses are human too. They have families, responsibilities, and emotions. It is time for MCMH to do better. Treat nurses with fairness, provide them with the tools they need, respect them as professionals, and value them as the heart of healthcare. Only then will the system thrive, and only then will true healing begin.
Rose
The Views expressed are not those of Asberth News Network