Nurses Association to discuss security with Arima Hospital staff

TT Registered Nurses Association members are expected to meet with staff from the Arima Hospital on Friday to discuss security and safety concerns and provide support.

Association president Idi Stuart said the decision came after a hospital worker, Marvin Safe, 29, was shot dead on the compound on Monday.

Safe, of North Manzanilla Road in Manzanilla, was a hospital attendant and was not a member of the association. He had worked with the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) for the past three years.

Stuart told Newsday on Tuesday, “There have been ongoing issues of security throughout, particularly in the NCRHA. There is a lack of proper security measures, because there have also been several car thefts and break-ins at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope. That has been an ongoing problem, especially for nurses who park at night.

"Now, the criminals do not wait for nights. They are stealing during the day. It is like it is easy pickings for them, and now it has escalated and migrated to Arima, which is very concerning for the association.”

He said nursing personnel contacted the association to ask for the meeting.

Safe had just arrived in the car park for work around 6.30 am on Monday when a heavily tinted black X-Trail drove up and gunmen inside shot at him.

Safe died on the spot. The killers left along Queen Mary Avenue in the X-Trail.

Stuart recalled there was a stabbing incident about three weeks ago in the accident and emergency department of the hospital. He could not confirm the status of the male victim, who was a patient.

“That was even more traumatic, because it was directly in front of nursing personnel and patients,” he said.

Stuart said if the workers ask for counselling at the meeting, the association will refer them to its counsellors.

NCRHA CEO Davlin Thomas visited the crime scene and met with Safe’s father, Hugh Safe, and other relatives. He said the NCRHA would have its psychological staff support the affected team in situations like the killing.

He told reporters security measures were in place, but it was a brazen attack, and the NCRHA was assessing the facility.

A brief statement on Tuesday afternoon from the Health Ministry said the ministry as well as the NCRHA offered their “deepest condolences” to Safe’s family, friends, and co-workers.

It said, “Mr Safe had been an employee of the NCRHA since 2020. Our heartfelt sympathies are offered to his family and friends during this difficult time.”