A severe patient care crisis unfolded at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mount Hope, where relatives reported extreme delays in medical attention, with some patients waiting over seven hours without being seen. The situation deteriorated to the point where approximately 70 individuals crowded the hospital corridors, comprising both visitors and patients awaiting treatment. Distressing accounts emerged of elderly patients, including one man, remaining on the floor for hours due to the absence of available beds.
One anonymous woman revealed she had been acting as the primary caregiver for her mother, hospitalized since Friday with a cardiac condition, expressing utter exhaustion from days of continuous care. She noted a visible reduction in support staff compared to the weekend, stating that while paramedics assisted nurses on Friday and Saturday, their presence had vanished by Monday. Another woman, identified as Ache, detailed her grandfather’s plight: after suffering heart failure and a subsequent stroke, he remained on an ambulance gurney in a hallway since 10 a.m., examined only briefly by a doctor in the corridor due to the bed shortage. She described the scene as ‘packed’ and ‘crazy,’ warning that the public would bear the brunt of this systemic failure.
The crisis appears linked to an ongoing dispute over nurse overtime policies. Dr. Tim Gopeesingh, Chairman of the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA), had previously labeled the overtime system a ‘racket,’ citing instances of nurses earning up to $80,000 in overtime and vowing to implement stricter protocols. He suggested that the current nursing pushback might be a reaction to this crackdown.
However, Idi Stuart, President of the Trinidad and Tobago National Nursing Association, refuted these claims, accusing Dr. Gopeesingh of being ‘disingenuous.’ Stuart clarified that the cited $80,000 payment was for a specialist nurse over a three-month period, not one month, and was related to a life-saving procedure for a pregnant mother with complications. He asserted that the root cause of the turmoil is not overtime abuse but a critical shortage of 2,000 nursing personnel and the NCRHA’s decision to reduce overtime availability. He further highlighted that nurses have been working without a salary increase since 2013, compounding the staffing and morale issues leading to the current breakdown in patient services.