Where the rats are concerned, though, Minister of Health Pablo Marin takes no blame. He heaps that squarely on the shoulders of Western Regional Manager, Melinda Guerra, and Administrator, Bernadette Seaver. Marin says that they have not been doing their jobs competently, and more than that, he claims that he has written to the Public Service about their incompetence.
Pablo Marin, Minister of Health
“You have a rat infestation; people are blaming the minister and my ministry where I am. You have a manager that is supposed to be controlling whatever and going around. If you see this hospital, you see how it is; it’s the manager sometimes looking for fund, sometimes getting help from outside. If you see the entrance how it looks, it is the people in here that love their work and trying to do something. Let’s say you have the rat infestation, you supposed to do something immediately and try to clean that or do something. I am saying the manager and the deputy because those are the two that are supposed to know what is happening in your department. After that…we hold a little while because we thought they were doing something. It is your place, it is your home; you should be working there and trying to eliminate the infestation that you have. Then we heard about the snake situation with the nurse. It is an area that is outside—I think if you have seen the place; it was right at the entrance. And when we realise it was dirty again, you have the managers that are supposed to be looking at those things. My C.E.O. cannot go every time and look at it; the minister cannot go and do everything. When you look at the rat situation entering the incubator, I went personally the following day to see what happened. I don’t want to blame no one in this particular situation, but the incubator is nearly tight seal for any animal to enter—if the animal was trying to enter.”
Pablo Marin
Reporter
“It did enter…”
Pablo Marin
“I’m saying if the animal was trying to enter, you will see some bite at where it is supposed to go in…you would see maybe some kind of hair attached to the particular entry. Nothing like that was there, but the rat was inside. Okay. We found that there was a hole at that particular station so let’s say that happened. So when I went there and I asked the administrator what have you done, her reaction was you know what, I already paid an exterminator three thousand dollars for us to be able to sweep the area. I was there with Mister Bodden, the PHI from the ministry. I asked her can you give me a report; she said she don’t have a report, but she just told me that you spend three thousand dollars. The only thing that I will say right now is that we are writing a report right now, taking it to public service and I hope this time that public service will act on what we are putting in the report because normally when you see these kinds of things, sometimes it takes a little bit more and it is hard for us to fire someone because of public service regulations. And I think everybody knows that. Why is it that the administrator is not doing their job? And that is what we are going to report and I want to know what the public service will do now about this situation.”
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