Dr Carl Max Hanoman
Chairman of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) Dr Carl Max Hanoman is calling on the government to increase nurses’ salary or face losing them.
Hanoman stated that he is currently in the process of asking for an increase in nurses’ salary— something, he said, he has appealed for more than once.
Hanoman stated that while it is arguable that nurses at the GPHC are the highest paid nurses in the country, they are also the ones under the most pressure. He explained that the Corporation has considered the conditions under which the nurses work and had ensured that certain allowances are incorporated into their salaries.
Noting that he hopes to improve the quality of nursing care in the Corporation, Hanoman is appealing to government to hike the pay.
“I’m appealing to those in power to look after nurses if not we will lose them and we don’t want to lose them,” he said, explaining that the hospital’s major constraint is a shortage of nurses and that that shortage leads to poor quality healthcare.
“The more nurses we get the better is the hospital and how do we get more nurses is if we pay them more money. We have to encourage them,” he said, adding: “I hope the government sees this vision”.
Nurses complain incessantly that they are being forced to work and study under poor conditions, most times with a shortage of lecturers and slow internet access. However, their major protest has always been for better wages.
In 2013, GPHC nurses had staged several protests outside of the hospital Accidents and Emergency Unit, objecting to what they said was a “measly” salary increase.
