Chatoorgoon begs nurses to end action

RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

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For­mer med­ical di­rec­tor and cur­rent di­rec­tor of the South-West Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ty, Dr Anand Cha­toor­goon, is urg­ing nurs­es to re­flect on com­pas­sion and du­ty amid an on­go­ing im­passe be­tween the Trinidad and To­ba­go Na­tion­al Nurs­es As­so­ci­a­tion (TTNNA) and the re­gion­al health au­thor­i­ties.

In a state­ment is­sued in his pri­vate ca­pac­i­ty as a med­ical prac­ti­tion­er and not as the SWRHA di­rec­tor, Dr Cha­toor­goon stressed that his com­ments do not rep­re­sent the po­si­tion of the board, but were in­stead an ap­peal ground­ed in re­spect for the pro­fes­sion.

“I write this in my per­son­al ca­pac­i­ty, out of deep re­spect for the work you do and the bur­dens you car­ry each day,” he said.

His com­ments come as ten­sions es­ca­late in the pub­lic health sec­tor, with TTNNA pres­i­dent Idi Stu­art re­cent­ly urg­ing cit­i­zens to avoid pub­lic hos­pi­tals over the East­er pe­ri­od, cit­ing on­go­ing in­dus­tri­al is­sues, staff short­ages and un­re­solved con­cerns af­fect­ing nurs­es.

Stu­art has al­so warned that nurs­es are in­creas­ing­ly frus­trat­ed, point­ing to long­stand­ing salary con­cerns and work­ing con­di­tions that con­tin­ue to im­pact the de­liv­ery of care.

Against this back­drop, Dr Cha­toor­goon ap­pealed di­rect­ly to nurs­es, high­light­ing the crit­i­cal role they play in car­ing for the most vul­ner­a­ble.

“In our pub­lic health sys­tem, many of the pa­tients you serve are ex­act­ly that—the poor, the el­der­ly, the chron­i­cal­ly ill, and those who have nowhere else to turn. For them, the care you pro­vide is not sim­ply a ser­vice, it is their life­line,” he said.

While ac­knowl­edg­ing the dif­fi­cult con­di­tions nurs­es face, he said their con­cerns about fair treat­ment, re­spect and prop­er sup­port are “both jus­ti­fied and nec­es­sary.”

How­ev­er, he cau­tioned that any dis­rup­tion in ser­vices could have se­ri­ous con­se­quences for pa­tients who de­pend sole­ly on the pub­lic health­care sys­tem.

“For the most vul­ner­a­ble among us, any dis­rup­tion in nurs­ing ser­vices can mean re­al suf­fer­ing—pro­longed ill­ness, dis­tress and un­cer­tain­ty. They do not have al­ter­na­tives. They re­ly on you,” he said.

Draw­ing on the sig­nif­i­cance of the East­er sea­son, Dr Cha­toor­goon en­cour­aged nurs­es to re­flect on the ex­am­ple of Je­sus Christ and the val­ues of com­pas­sion and sac­ri­fice.

“East­er calls us to re­flect on a love that gives, even when it is dif­fi­cult; a com­pas­sion that does not turn away; and a re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to care for oth­ers, es­pe­cial­ly in their time of need,” he said.

He em­pha­sised that his mes­sage was not in­tend­ed as a di­rec­tive, but as an ap­peal to the core val­ues of the nurs­ing pro­fes­sion.

“I of­fer this not as in­struc­tion, but as an ap­peal—to your pro­fes­sion­al­ism, your com­pas­sion, and your deep sense of hu­man­i­ty,” he said.

Dr Cha­toor­goon al­so ex­pressed hope that a bal­anced res­o­lu­tion can be achieved—one that safe­guards both the dig­ni­ty of nurs­es and the wel­fare of pa­tients.

“May a path be found that up­holds both your dig­ni­ty and the care of those who de­pend on you most,” he said.