Nurses being barred from handling COVID-19 cases amidst International Nurses Day- Chief Nurse

Balloons released into the skies by Public Health Ministry Staff to observe International Nurses Day

Today May 12, 2020, is International Nurses Day and while nurses and other health workers are required to be on the frontline in the battle of an invisible deadly enemy to mankind in the form of the coronavirus, some Guyanese nurses are being barred from going anywhere close to coronavirus cases or patients. This is even as all hands are needed on deck.

Speaking with BIG Smith News Watch on Tuesday afternoon at the Ministry of Public Health, Chief Nurse Linda Johnson said that some nurses are being barred by their families from operating in the frontline duties against the coronavirus fight.

“Some of the families are not accepting this, that their relatives have to go and take care of patients so even though some nurses wanted to do it, they are not having the support of their families and we do understand,” Linda Johnson told BIG Smith News Watch

Chief Nurse Linda Johnson

She was at the time speaking on the sidelines of an event at the Ministry of Public Health where the staff of the ministry released into the skies, hundreds of balloons as a form of saluting nurses, and observing International Nurses Day. The event was also marked with the honking of horns in solidarity of those on the frontline.

The balloons were labeled with the various categories of nurses and departments in the local health sector where nurses operate.

Linda Johnson also spoke of the issue of fear among nurses in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic when it was first discovered in Guyana as well as the discrimination that nurses are continuously enduring by members of the public, many of whom are not fully educated on the pandemic and how it is spread among other things despite numerous infomercials in the public’s domain.

“The biggest challenge for the nurses at this time is discrimination because they are there fighting on the frontline for us. When they get out there, people think they are infected and are pushing them aside, they want to joint transportation but people are afraid to let them in, people don’t want to let them into stores and when they go to the market they are being scorned” Stated Johnson.

A passionate Linda Johnson told this publication that while some members of the public are treating the nurses in this manner, there are some families who are supportive of the health workers.

Deputy Permanent Secretary Bess and Director of Regional Health Services Dr. Shako join the staff in observing the soaring of the balloons

She also spoke of what was one of the major issues the Ministry of Public Health through its various regional health services had to deal with at the beginning of the pandemic as it relates to Guyanese nurses.

“Nurses were afraid more than ever to deal with Covid-19 cases and patients but as we allowed them to become more educated, the more comfortable they became in their skink to deal with the patients and cases having being equipped with the information on how to protect themselves and what can and cannot affect them so now we have nurses who are opting to say, look, I want to do this” Linda Johnson told Big Smith News Watch.

She was asked specifically if there have been any cases of resignation from nurses or health workers during this period but responded in the negative.