Director of the South West Regional Health Authority Dr Anand Chattergoon has appealed to nurses to respect their profession and return to work despite ongoing industrial action.
The Trinidad and Tobago National Nurses Association and regional health authorities are currently at loggerheads with industrial issues, staff shortages, and unresolved issues at the heart of the breakdown.
Dr Chattergoon said that while nurses concerns are justified and necessary, nurses must consider that their patients have nowhere else to turn to for help.
He said disruption in services have serious consequences for patients who depend solely on the public healthcare system.
Meanwhile, the Nurses Association said the current sickout at Mount Hope hospital could end if management speaks respectfully to nurses.
Letitia Stephens, the Association industrial relations officer, said hospital management must be open in their dialogue and be honest and transparent to nurses.
She said there is a level of arrogance and ego at play that leaves the nurses out in the cold.
Stephens said the Mt Hope facility has been chronically short-staffed, while predicting that the sickout will spread to other institutions.
