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What about us, Minister Charles?
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Dear Editor,
I write in reference to a demonstration carried out on Friday, October 16, 2009 by the Practical Nurses Association of Jamaica (PNAJ). The objective of the protest was to urge the labour ministry to include us in the selection of practical nurses for the Canadian programme. The labour minister, Mr Pearnel Charles, castigated the PNAJ and subjected our members to gross humiliation. We wish to clarify our position so the public can have a better understanding.
The over 500 people who turned up for interviews at the labour ministry are not members of the association. In fact, we have credible information that a significant number of interviewees were not practical nurses but were in possession of fictitious certificates. In our 17 years of existence, we have met with former Prime Minister of Jamaica PJ Patterson, the Nursing Council of Jamaica, Portia Simpson Miller, then minister of labour, and various health ministers in the previous administration to discuss our plight. All those meetings were cordial and constructive. We are appalled and dismayed at Minister Charles's response, especially when viewed against the background that he is a trade unionist by profession.
I wish to remind Minister Charles that it is our constitutional and democratic right to protest, providing members do not behave in any manner that disrupts production.
The Practical Nurses Association of Jamaica was founded in 1990 and launched on April 17, 1992. The association represents over 2,000 highly qualified members islandwide. Its central objectives are to intensely and aggressively lobby the recognition of its members by the state. Standardisation of training is invariably placed at the top of our agenda as a part of our outreach project. A comprehensive list of qualified, unemployed members was done with a view to negotiate with the relevant government and private sector entities to facilitate employment for these members. Persons joining the association have to produce a valid certificate, references from a justice of the peace, the school that they were trained and from a minister of religion. The application has to go to the membership committee for ratification.
The association sees the need for a comprehensive restructuring of training offered by private nursing schools to supplement the market with highly trained nurses and to alleviate a worsening deterioration of the standards of living of our members.
It was through our relentless campaign that the Ministry of Health and Education in collaboration with the NCTVET commenced the restructuring of training and subsequent certification of Jamaica's practical nurses.
If it were not for this organisation, the training offered by institutions would have negatively impact the integrity of the nursing profession and our ability to effectively monitor the reform.
In light of the above, we believe that such an exercise should have involved the association. We have noted over the years that whenever the ministry secures overseas employment, it is through the media that we learn of same.
The PNAJ unreservedly call upon the minister to apologise to the over 2,000 hard-working members who continue to make significant contributions to national development. If he does not apologise, we intend to file a formal compliant with Amnesty International, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation on the abominable conditions to which our members are subjected in Jamaica.
We commend the minister for this initiative and what he has done for Jamaica's practical nurses. However, his handling of the matter was distasteful and unprofessional and is an embarrassment to the hundreds of ordinary Jamaicans who do not possess academic qualification but are highly respected.
Stephanie Powell
President
Practical Nurses Association of Jamaica
130-132 East Street
Kingston
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