Gradually it became clear to everyone. The Ministry of Health has pointed out for some time the importance of vaccination during the vaccination campaign, and has always urged unvaccinated people to vaccinate themselves. But, is the ministry primarily concerned with the health of the people, or for individual citizens, or is it perhaps also about – reducing – the pressure on the health care sector? Or in other words, is it really about the lack of nursing staff, doctors and specialist doctors? A serious problem that the government, the Ministry of Health, has created over the years.
This seems to be the case, after all, at all press conferences of the health authorities the focus is always on the aspect of preventing an increase in the workload of staff in hospitals. Of course, this is brought up all the time, because the Ministry of Health and the outbreak management team know that there is a shortage of staff in hospitals. Nurses, doctors, and medical professionals are leaving and seeking refuge elsewhere, particularly in the Caribbean. They are looking for a better salary, less work pressure, and less stress.
Not from today or yesterday
But that is not a thing today or yesterday. It has been resurfacing for several months as a direct result of the healthcare policies pursued by successive governments in recent years. Hospital staff, from top to bottom, want to be better evaluated, and a better salary, too. Medical professionals have been wrestling with Public Health over rates for a long time and that wrestling now and then alternates with work stoppages, counseling or a strike.
alarming
Dagblad Suriname recently spoke extensively about the troubling problem of staff shortages in hospitals. Around 17 September last year, the President of the National Hospital Board also the Director General of Paramaribo University Hospital, Claudia Redan, said that there were not enough nurses and specialists to accommodate all the people who needed intensive care and hospital care. She also said the top nurses had left the country. “There are not enough qualified staff in hospitals,” Reidan said at a public health press conference.
Now she is sounding the alarm again. It’s starting to look like a CD with some scratches on it.
Dealing with the budget
It should be a priority of policy this year in the Ministry of Health to finally accommodate the hospital staff and thus prevent this at a time when there are only a few nurses, doctors and medical professionals available to provide appropriate care, and not just for Covid-19 patients. Health Minister Ammar Ramadan should make a strong case for a large amount in his budget during the upcoming budget debate in Parliament. It is necessary, necessary and saves lives. As long as no additional funds are made available to health, Minister Ramadan will have to continue wrangling over what he has to keep health care at an acceptable level and staff satisfaction.
In short, let the health authorities work on better policies and focus the vaccination campaign on the individual health of citizens and no longer give the impression that unvaccinated people are the cause of increased pressure on health care workers, because they are the majority. The number of Covid hospital admissions will consist of unvaccinated people.
It is pointless to continue targeting the unvaccinated after two years
In addition, nearly two years after the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, citizens, vaccinated and unvaccinated, know very well what Covid-19 is and what causes it. There is no point in insisting that unvaccinated people be vaccinated. Those who were not vaccinated after two years for reasons of their own will not allow themselves to change their minds today, nor will they ever allow the pressure on the healthcare sector to ease. Reducing this pressure is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health alone, and not the responsibility of the unvaccinated citizen.
PK
