PEOPLE in Ulawa are concerned about the daily late arrival and absenteeism of nurses at the Taheramo rural health center, north of the island.
Many people complained that the staff at Taheramo clinic are unreliable and should be dealt with by the provincial health authority.
A Davidson Pulu of Mouta haora village, which is about five kilometers from the Taheramo health facility, said that people have suffered very much of this late arrival and absenteesm behavior of the staff of Taheramo clinic.
“The usual arrival time of the three staff here is between nine and eleven o’clock in the morning, every day from Monday to Friday,” he said.
“Imagine those who have to walk for five kilometers or more early in the morning, having eaten no breakfast in order to arrive early to the clinic but then we have to wait until eleven before the nurses arrive to see them.
“This is not good because the official working hours as we know starts at eight o’clock as was seen at the clinic’s daily program pinned up in front of the clinic,” he further added.
Pulu said that this is a very serious problem for everyone here especially those hiring truck to go to the clinic because it will cost them extra money to go to pick up the nurse if they were in a hurry.
“Because the nurses are not residing here at the clinic, some people have to go to nurses home to get them to the clinic for if they want to return back early.”
He said the responsible authorities should remove such people to make way for people who are reliable and are willing to carry out their duty as a Nurse to be posted to Taheramo clinic.
“I am calling on the responsible authorities to must take action on such people because they are getting paid for not faithfully carrying out their responsibilities and are incapable and as a result, it is the people that are being victimized of such actions,” he continued.
This practice must be stopped and the people here needs people who are capable of doing their job as nurse especially at this time when Malaria cases are high on Ulawa Island, he concludes. – BY LIONEL TAORAO, Ulawa Island
