Staff of the morgue at the Princess Margaret Hospital staged a sickout on Tuesday which caused operations to come to a stop. The staff cited hazardous working conditions as the reason for the action.

President of the Bahamas Allied Healthcare Workers Union, Krista Burrows-Campbell explained at a press conference on Tuesday that fumes from a recent diesel spill at the hospital has caused health issues among staff. She said, “we do have 28 individuals that were supposed to be released but because of the fumes, you know, we can’t really do it and we do have our overage in the morgue. Our capacity is actually 79 to 80 persons comfortably, we have over 200 people in there. And so we need to get these going so we can get people out so they can get their loved ones buried.”

Burrows-Campbell appealed to hospital management to intervene to bring resolution to the situation. “We are not willing to go back into those conditions until this issue is resolved. It is not only affected the morgue staff but I understand throughout the hospital above us we are also having some issues and concerns. I feel that its just been too long. It’s been lingering too long.”

Minister of Health and Wellness, the Hon. Dr. Michael Darville acknowledged complaints of an odor after a cleanup had been carried out. Rubis is expected to send in a team to address the drains at the hospital.

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