Assemblyman for Roxborough/ Delaford Watson Duke has described the response by THA Secretary of Health, Wellness and Family Development Tracy Davidson-Celestine on the issue surrounding contract nurses, hired during the covid19 pandemic, as “callous”.

At a news conference last Friday, Davidson-Celestine noted the concerns of nurses, who have been clamouring for benefits like sick leave, vacation leave and maternity leave, but said the TRHA has no vacancies at the moment. The nurses, some working for over a year, were contracted to supplement the staff as additional support was needed to battle the covid19 virus. Davidson-Celestine said benefits only apply to permanent workers.

During a Facebook live on Tuesday, Duke said having been a student of employment law at Leicester University, “there are some things that are just wrong from the time you smell it.”

He added: “Here we have a crisis called covid19 and here nurses are placing their lives on the line – healthcare professionals and healthcare persons on a whole, they are placing their lives on the line; fighting this invisible enemy as the Prime Minister called it."

Duke said last year healthcare professionals were given a national round of applause and given roses.

He said, after a year of battling the virus and (previously) keeping the infection numbers low, it was "wicked" for Davidson-Celestine to reject contract nurses' pleas for benefits.

He added: “There are some people who do not know love – they do not know love. There are some people who do not know love and those persons are often time thrust into high positions of governance. When they get into government, they hire persons who do not know love also.”

He said healthcare workers should not be treated in this manner.

“That’s not the way you treat workers, these are your front-line staff, these are the ones who go out there and put down their lives on a daily basis for the country.”

He said health workers who take home small salaries stand a lot of risk in contracting covid19, but any person could contract it, noting a doctor recently died because of covid19.

He said he was aware of four NWRHA workers – two drivers and two wards maids – who contracted covid19.

“Anybody could contract it – have a heart nah, Tracy. Why be so wicked, why be so callous, why be so devoid of human feelings – where is your heart?”

He added: “Are you a user? Are you going to use these healthcare workers the same way you used everybody else, and saying you just hired them for covid19. There are no vacancies and it was for a six-month period? That is not the question.

"The question is: are they entitled to any benefits? Answer the question – yes or no.”

He said the question was not answered.

“These mothers leave their children at home to come out and this is how you’re going to answer them. You hired them because of covid19 and only when you have vacancies you can put them in?

"They didn’t ask you about that, they asked you about the benefits. Are they going to receive any benefits now, after a ye