Nurses forced to bathe in yard
Student nurses attached to the New Amsterdam hospital and the New Amsterdam School of Nursing are getting a rude baptism into the world of nursing and what it should not be like to be a health care provider and a nurse at that.
The nurses are forced to bathe in the yard.
According to information one of the buildings in which the nurses reside, situated at Magdalene Street in New Amsterdam, has been without running water for a number of years. Water only trickles from a stand pipe in the yard.
The nurses have to either carry water up the three-story building which they find an arduous task or bathe in the open in the yard. Many prefer to bathe in the yard.
The student nurses have left their respective homes in various parts of the country including the Hinterland Regions and travelled to New Amsterdam in order to be trained to become professional nurses. Many find the conditions unwelcoming.
The nurses are usually accommodated at various places since the old nurses hostel which was situated opposite the old New Amsterdam Hospital, was left in a rundown state by the previous administration and was eventually deemed unfit for human habitation.
THE NURSES' BATH AREA
The building was subsequently overtaken by vagrants and later partially destroyed by fire when one of the vagrants decided to burn wasps in the building.
The cost for the nursesβ accommodation is usually borne by the Ministry of Health.
Senior officials of both the Regional Administration and the Ministry of Health stated that they will look into the situation.
A few years ago another building used by the nurses in New Amsterdam was without electricity for a number of months after GPL disconnected the power from the building for non-payment.
It took the intervention of the media to have the electricity restored.
Former Minister of Health in the previous administration, the embattled Dr. Bheri Ramsarran, at a public forum in Berbice had deemed the situation embarrassing.
He questioned why this was allowed to occur, with so many senior officials in the Region and the Ministry of Health available. He had offered his apology and promised a full investigation.
Now itβs a similar situation.