By Chantalé Fletcher
FYZABAD MP Dr Lackram Bodoe is calling on the Minister of Health to offer appropriate booster shots to all healthcare workers as a matter of urgency.
“They deserve this additional layer of the booster shot right now, as medical, nursing and other healthcare workers were completely stressed out,” he said.
He also called for all other frontline workers to receive the same.
Speaking at the United National Congress (UNC) virtual meeting on Monday night, Dr Bodoe made reference to a case at the San Fernando General Hospital and a trade union representative, where one nurse highlighted the frustration of the fraternity by hand-cuffing himself to a post.
He said some patients’ relatives were frequently asked to purchase medicine outside the hospital for patients with the coronavirus.
In addition, there were even instances of persons who had died in Covid tents before they were moved to an ICU bed, he said.
Dr Bodoe said due to these many issues many citizens questioned whether their loved ones were receiving the best care in the hospitals.
He said, “They were asking whether the medical teams were provided with all the required drugs and supplies?”
However, he thanked the frontline teams for doing their best with what was provided.
Dr Bodoe questioned, “Why was there no drive-thru testing available and if there were a shortage of testing kits at some health facilities?”
Meanwhile, he urged the government to ensure the oral anti-viral drug was made available once approved to fight Covid-19.
Dr Bodoe explained, “As these drugs could be orally outside the hospital setting, many more patients could avoid hospitalization and many more lives saved if the government stays ahead of this particular game.”
He also said the government had split the clinical staff between the regular healthcare system and the parallel healthcare system. “They employed very little clinical additional staff for the parallel healthcare system,” which has contributed to problems in the regular healthcare system.
