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A prob­lem­at­ic pro­cure­ment sys­tem and a “woe­ful­ly in­ad­e­quate” staffing es­tab­lish­ment have left pub­lic health fa­cil­i­ties in a state of pre­car­i­ous dys­func­tion, ac­cord­ing to the Trinidad and To­ba­go Na­tion­al Nurs­es As­so­ci­a­tion (TTNNA). While the pub­lic has long com­plained of a de­te­ri­o­rat­ing pa­tient ex­pe­ri­ence, the front­line work­ers tasked with main­tain­ing the sys­tem now ad­mit they are ter­ri­fied of the very wards they man­age.

“I am telling you as the pres­i­dent of the nurs­ing as­so­ci­a­tion, and I sure the sen­ti­ments are ex­pressed by my col­leagues, that we don’t even feel safe. Even us, as nurs­ing and mid­wifery per­son­nel, by en­ter­ing some of our own fa­cil­i­ties, we don’t even feel safe be­cause we know the short­com­ings. We have the so­lu­tions, we have the rec­om­men­da­tions how to re­solve it, but ad­min­is­tra­tion is push­ing back on it,” said TTNNA Pres­i­dent Idi Stu­art.

The con­cerns come amid re­ports of se­vere staff short­ages, par­tic­u­lar­ly in ma­ter­ni­ty care, where mid­wives say they are be­ing stretched be­yond safe lim­its.