Dismissed CHWs still not paid

THE DEMERARA/MAHAICA (REGION FOUR) REGIONAL DEMOCRATIC
COUNCIL (RDC) AUTHORITIES DISMISSED 35 COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS
(CWHS) EARLIER THIS YEAR but still owe them two months wages.
Several of the fired CHWs are outraged that Regional Executive Officer (REO) Mr. Ronald
Gadraj and the RDC administration are giving them the proverbial royal run-around for their
monies.
“All they telling we is that the money ain’t ready as yet. This is like every week (since their
dismissal in February). Nobody seems to know when we gon get pay and I need my money.
When you approach peaceful(ly) is one story and when you go like a thug is another. But at the
end of the day, I need to be paid what is owed to me”.
“The Minister of Health and the President should ensure that we get our money as it's them who
fired us according to the doctor in charge of the East Bank corridor. So, pay me what you owe
me. I want to move on with my life,” one of the former CHWs argued.
Another reminded www.aroundtheregions.com that, “we have expenses. We have bills because
we are not working and want to be paid our money. It’s like you have to beg the RDC Four for
our monies and this isn’t fair. We should have been paid the same time we were being dismissed,
as there was no warning or indication.”
Yet another of the hapless former CHWs, a mother of two young children, noted being a single
parent is very difficult and while she is not saddled with rent, because she resides with a sister,
she taking care of her two children is her sole responsibility and being unemployed increases her
troubles.

“I have no one to turn to because the fathers of these children do not give me anything as
everybody using COVID as an excuse to don’t do what they should. I need my money as I have
been borrowing and literally begging to get by,” she implored.
An inconsolable former healthcare employee said the experience has opened her eyes to the
inhumanities of the Regional Health Services (RHS) and the RDC administration to local
citizens. Her three-year joy after joining the healthcare sector has become a nightmare overnight,
and her independence as a worker vanished without warning.
When reached, Regional Health Officer (RHO) Dr Gavinash Persaud said that while he
understands their plight of the former CHWs, he is trying desperately for a resolution to their
difficulties, emphasising, “I had no part to play in this decision.”
The government permanently employed just nine CHWs from the batch of over 40 healthcare
workers and when asked to explain the anomaly, Dr. Persaud blamed the previous RHS under
the then RHO, Dr. Quincy Jones, and former REO, Ms. Pauline Lucas, for their current
hardships.
“The nine came through the official training programme from West Demerara Regional
Hospital (WDRH). The others were selected by the former Region Four administration,”
Dr. Persaud explained.