By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

AS the country battles its third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bahamas Nurses Union is reporting that five nurses are out sick and one recently died from the deadly virus.

BNU President Amancha Williams said the nurses are pretty much on their own or the burden is on their families as their insurance is not the best.

Last year, a number of nurses died after being exposed to COVID-19. The union had an issue with the length of time the government was taking to compensate the families of the fallen nurses.

It is unknown if they were ever paid.

“We have five nurses out at PMH with COVID,” Nurse Williams said yesterday. “Two of them are in hospital. They don’t have the best health insurance so their families have to deal with them. The air-conditioner was off down there for four weeks.

“I keep saying bacteria, the spread of viruses, everything grows in heat. Body fluids are passing from one person to the next in that kind of environment, especially when you have no windows to open up to allow the air to circulate.”

The union president indicated that those nurses recently afflicted with the virus are very ill. It is also unknown how many of the nurses are vaccinated against COVID-19.

“The nurses are sick,” she said. “One is really, really not well. She is at Doctors Hospital. She is not well. We had a nurse (from Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre) that died. . .last week Thursday. We are having a memorial service this week. She will also be buried this week. I haven’t heard the minister say anything about that. Why didn’t he talk about that?

“These air-condition systems have been out of service for a while, it’s just worse now that the summer has rolled in. I would say they have been out for about two months.”

The union president said the air-conditioning system is unreliable as one day it comes on and the next day it is off for periods as long as three weeks.

She said it must be extremely uncomfortable to work in such an environment and also to be a maternity patient who has just had a C-section.

In a statement issued yesterday, hospital officials acknowledged issues with the air-conditioning system, adding that progress is underway regarding its repair in several wards.

The hospital confirmed that the air-conditioning unit on female medical ward II was repaired on Wednesday, adding that the air-conditioning for the obstetrics

and gynaecology wards have also been repaired.

The a/c for the labour and postnatal wards were repaired two weeks ago, officials said.

“The hospital will continue to repair the air conditioning for several remaining areas including the female medical 1 ward, which is currently vacant for one month; the antenatal ward which has functioning units that need to be replaced and the male medical I ward which has a partially functioning unit.

“Additionally, work will continue to repair air-conditioning in the dialysis unit where one of two units is functioning.

“To provide clarity following statements made by the nursing union president regarding the issue of non-functioning air conditioning in the postnatal, female medical I and male medical I and II, the male medical II ward has been closed and gutted for approximately two years and the other areas mentioned have either been repaired or are progressing,” PHA said.

Officials said Ms Williams has been invited to receive and has been receiving updates on the progress of repairs.

The statement said efforts are being made to ensure that the institution provides the optimal environment for the care and treatment of our patients.