An in­de­pen­dent sen­a­tor is call­ing for ur­gent Gov­ern­ment in­ter­ven­tion as protests by hun­dreds of nurs­es in­ten­si­fy, warn­ing that de­lays in re­solv­ing the dis­pute could deep­en strain on Trinidad and To­ba­go’s pub­lic health sys­tem.

Court­ney Mc­Nish spoke out yes­ter­day, urg­ing the ad­min­is­tra­tion to pri­ori­tise a set­tle­ment with nurs­es who have raised con­cerns over over­time pay­ments, staffing short­ages and work­ing con­di­tions. He cau­tioned that the sit­u­a­tion, if left un­re­solved, could have se­ri­ous con­se­quences for health­care de­liv­ery.

His com­ments came a day af­ter nurs­es staged a silent protest at the North Cen­tral Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ty’s (NCRHA) ad­min­is­tra­tive build­ing at the Er­ic Williams Med­ical Sci­ences Com­plex in Mt Hope.