Report on Region Eight by Regional Chairman, Mark Crawford – AFC

The roads in and around Mahdia are in such a deplorable condition, that they may soon be made impassable by vehicular traffic. During the 2012 National Budget debate, AFC Member of Parliament Eula Marcello had brought to the attention of the National Assembly, the appalling condition of the roads in the area. Since then nothing has been done. Some of you may be aware that complaints have been brought against the present Regional Executive Officer for failing to cooperate with the Regional Council, this is contributing to the lack of progress in fixing some of the urgently needed work in the area.

I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank the GGMC for their promise to assist with the garbage situation at Mahdia. GGMC has pledged to assist with cleaning up the garbage site and to donate 50 garbage drums. This will go a far way towards helping to alleviate the garbage situation. I want to thank them for showing this interest in Mahdia.

I recently visited the Paramakatoi Secondary School Dormitory and was appalled at the conditions under which the students are living. Students are forced to sleep two and three to a bed because mattresses are not available and boards from the beds have been removed, Students are forced to bathe at a creek and to fetch water from a nearby spring for drinking and cooking. A well with the necessary system to carry water to the dorms is desperately needed. [END]

Also, at the dorms there is a desperate need for assistants to the Matron and Warden. At present there is one Warden and one Matron who are charged with the responsibility of looking after some 350 students.  There are reports that at nights some students sneak out of the dorms and are engaged in undesirable activities. While there is the attention to employ security guards, there must be additional support staff in the dorms and a security hut for the guards needs to be built.

In the next few weeks I will be travelling to other areas in Region Eight and will be updating the media on conditions in these areas. [END]

AFC finds situation at Nursing School shocking

Last week the Alliance For Change at its press conference stated that the quality of training at the Nursing Schools was being compromised and the situation was a health crisis in the making. Since then the AFC has been investigating conditions at the Nursing School and what we have learnt is most alarming.

1. There are unconfirmed reports that the Nursing School has not been accredited since 2003
2. With over 450 students enrolled, the school has only 4 full-time lecturers and about six part-time lecturers. It must be noted here that the international standard is one lecturer to 25 students.
3. Student nurses are not receiving any clinical demonstrations and training. The training programme should provide student nurses to gain practical experience by matching what they learn in the classroom by training on the floor. This is not happening as there are no clinical lecturers to take the students through their paces on the floor or in the wards.
4. Student nurses are working at the hospital unsupervised. Third year student nurses are sent to the wards, the High Dependency Unit, Emergency Room and other critical areas where they carry out the duties of a fully trained nurse without any supervision. Very often, these student nurses are used to fill the gaps in nursing care created by a shortage of nurses at the hospital.
5. There have been serious deviations from the curriculum for the nursing programmes. The curriculum clearly set out the number of hours for each course but this is not being adhered to. Some 20-hour courses are being delivered in two hours. Obviously, this means that lecturers are not given enough time to teach the course so the quality and level of learning is compromised.
6. Only four toilets at the school are in working order and about 400 students have to use these four lavs. This creates a most unsanitary condition.
7. Overwhelmed at the number of students at each lecture session, lecturers have become frustrated because they cannot provide the quality of teaching they know is needed and necessary.

Given this state of affairs, the AFC is urging the Minister of Health and the General Nursing Council of Guyana to immediately address what is happening with the nursing programmes. The Nursing Council especially, which is the body responsible for accrediting nurses, should seek an immediate intervention so that the quality of training required is guaranteed.

Nurses are the backbone of any health care system and to have persons out there who may be certified but lacks the required level of competence is a very dangerous situation and as we said last week, it is a crisis in the making.

The AFC would like to know, who will be held responsible in the event that a life is lost due to inadequate nurse care? Can we blame a nurse who was not properly trained?

Remember we are talking about human lives here [END]

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