Delays at KPH, VJH as workers protest

Scores of persons who turned up at the Kingston Public and Victoria Jubilee hospitals yesterday had an extended wait as some administrative staff staged a one-hour protest.

Staff from the records offices at both hospitals stopped working to press their demands for improved working conditions.

"We walked off the job because there is no air conditioning and it is very hot in the records office," Fiona Swaby told The Gleaner.

"We don't have proper ventilation, we are lacking filing space, we have one bathroom serving for 72 staff members, both males and females," Swaby said.

She charged that the matter has been regularly reported to the hospital administrators for the past three years but nothing has been done to address the problems.

Late yesterday Lyttleton 'Tanny' Shirley, head of the South East Regional Health Authority, told The Gleaner that the concerns of the staff were being addressed.

Shirley, who interrupted a meeting to speak briefly with The Gleaner, said additional information on the measures to be implemented would be announced today.