By Alpha Abu
Junior doctors at the Connaught Hospital have downed tools following the alleged assault on one of their colleagues at the main referral hospital yesterday.
Dr. Catherine Jackson-Cole told Politico that she was assaulted by people in the entourage of the Minister of Health and Sanitation leaving her injured in the arm.
She named one of the Deputy Ministers of Health, Dr Anthony Sandy and the Permanent Secretary in the ministry as two of five people she claimed roughed her up as they tried to wrestle her mobile phone and stop her from filming a strike by cleaners.
The cleaners were protesting over the nonpayment of their salaries by a hospital contractor for nearly a year.
The striking junior doctors, who say they number more than 30 at Connaught, say they will not return to work until the Deputy Minister of Health, the Permanent Secretary and the Chief Medical Officer “apologise and resign” and the sanitary condition at the hospital addressed.
They say their colleagues at the Ola During Children’s Hospital are in solidarity with them.
Dr Jackson-Cole said she was not filming anything extraordinary but the spectacle of the cleaners with their placards raised for the Health Minister Dr. Austin Demby and the other officials to see.
She showed a bruise close to her elbow that she said was a result of the assault. She said the Permanent Secretary was the first to grab her hand, accusing her of sabotaging the government and of intending to use the footage for ill- intent purposes. She claimed the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Thomas Samba after the scuffle ordered that she be suspended and that her name be struck off the pay voucher.
Politico contacted Dr. Samba to verify the accusation as we went to press last night, but he said he preferred a face-to-face interview the next day.
Dr. Jackson-Cole said she never intended to do something mischievous with her photos and was surprised at the conduct of the senior officials. She wished that everything would just pass away as she never craved for such an unwarranted publicity, insisting her filming had nothing to do with politics.
Dr. David Sao Turay at Connaught described Dr. Jackson-Cole as one of the most admired professionals in their ranks and that colleagues were particularly disturbed by the incident.
Kuma Logistics was the company contracted to undertake cleaning of the hospital and which in turn hired individuals for the task. Lead Supervisor for Kuma Logistics, Anthony Hazeley explained to Politico about the company not getting any payment from the Health Ministry and had to pay four months of the 15-month arrears due the workers just to ease the pressure that Kuma faced.
The workers had grown restless and decided to go on a strike action that has now entered its second week. The head of the logistics company could not answer our call. The filth and the poignant smell of the place forced the hospital secretary called Yokie to lead other workers from the hospital mortuary to the main facility to clean up the messy surroundings.
The striking cleaners then confronted the mortuary staff and stopped them from taking away the piles of rubbish they had gathered for disposal. The situation became tense and police were called in. It was during the standoff that the Health Minister came with his team which resulted in scuffle involving some in his entourage and the female doctor. Yokie refused to talk to Politico saying he had been told all matters should be addressed by the Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Health.
The doctors showed journalists their on-duty resting lodge which is in a very bad condition. They complained of having their request for four standing fans unanswered and that the air-conditioners that were to replace the broken ones had yet to come. A male doctor offered one fan for the sitting room. They say for two years now, plans to renovate the building had never yielded any result.
Another doctor told Politico that those emergency cases that should be taken to the theatre within hours take up to four days due to unnecessary red tape.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (14/04/21)
