Nurses at Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre are refusing to report to work, leaving “two to three” nurses to tend to patients at the facility after 23 patients on the male ward tested positive for COVID-19.
It is believed they caught the virus from an SRC employee who got infected and worked on several wards.
Even after 23 of the 24 patients on the ward tested positive, nurses say their superiors were still trying to get them to come to work.
The PHA remained silent on the infected patients for days and only came forward today after the Bahamas Nurses Union forced its hand and ran to the media with the information.
“You would be lucky if you get two or three nurses to work with those patients. They sick,” said one nurse who added, “only scanty scanty staff working with patients now.”
Nurses say their superiors are “not being transparent”, are trying to work them “into the ground” and have failed to provide adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) despite the dire situation at SRC. Bosses at the Centre expect employees to wear one mask for days on end before replacing them.
SRC started testing some nurses today at 10am but many of them had already taken steps to get themselves tested at South Beach Clinic.
“The bottom line is there is a lack of concern for staff,” said the nurse.