The Mauritian public is so predictable. As soon as reports of any incidents happening in hospitals are published, lo and behold, the know-it-all public becomes judge, jury and executioner on the spot. Everything becomes the hospital’s and staff’s faults, without taking the trouble to know what really the facts of the matter are or how such incidents came to be. In January, a young lady claimed that she went to hospital pregnant, was put under anesthesia and woke up to be told that she was never pregnant. A few weeks later, babies were exchanged in an unfortunate series of circumstances. As soon as the news was made public, the comments started to flood in from the public judges’ pulpit: doctors’ incompetency was declared, child trafficking taking place in hospitals was stated as fact. Because we, hospital staff are not allowed to talk publicly, so we frustratingly cannot set the records straight. We believe that it is high time to do so and talk about what really goes on behind the scenes in most public hospitals. 
We, public servants in healthcare, are more often than not on the receiving end of online abuse, along with our department and staff. We become the subject of radio programs and investigative reports where every voice is heard except ours. We are talked of, talked about by sometimes our peers who are no longer in public service, who have been out for scores of years, and who have no clue about what goes on nowadays. The majority of us have joined the public sector because we love this job and because we believe in giving back to our country after acquiring expertise and experience from abroad. We are fully aware of the unsocial hours, of what is entails and frankly we thrive under pressure. That is however, in the best of circumstances. We are able to adjust to whatever is thrown in our way but as any other professional, we also reach our limits at some point.
Today, we operate, in most of the regional hospitals, at reduced capacity. Our teams of doctors and nurses are severely understaffed, without any chance of recruitment in sight any time soon. Not only are we overworked, but we are also overloaded with all kinds of administrative memos and rules that reach us without any consultation or warning, and that need to be implemented overnight. The much-touted 24/7 presence of gynaecologists, paediatricians and anaesthesiologists in hospitals was announced with great fanfare by the minister, only for the latter to ask for a report on overnight cases so that his ministry can justify the weight that these costs entail on the public funds. This is yet another case of apre lamor latisann. When we requested for a study beforehand to assess the utility of such a measure beyond pure political mileage, we were brushed aside. Today, we have colleagues who are so overworked that they are seriously considering leaving the public sector. This is nothing more but a loss for the public who will be losing out on competent doctors and members of nursing staff, who do their best to work within the system.
Another issue that has recently come to light concerns the monthly posting to Rodrigues. Despite our several requests and pleas, today, our colleagues in the Obs&Gynae department have to cover the whole of Rodrigues 24/7 not for one but two months! We had written extensively how the 24/7/30 is detrimental not to mention illegal towards the doctors, but also unfair towards the patients, who do not get the doctor at his optimum as from one point in time. But it seems that those who are at decision making level pay no heed to what happens in the field and are only keen on having certain conditions implemented based on their whims and caprices.
Once more, the public pays for the incompetence of those who are at policy making level. As much as we love our job and want to keep serving in public, we cannot keep on getting silenced by the “public servant” muzzle. We are tired, overworked, anxious and fearful for the future. The public’s behaviour and reaction towards public healthcare workers without knowing what goes on behind the scenes just add to this frustration. At some point, the public health service will lose most of its competent workforce. The ministry will then state that it needs to recruit from abroad as there’s a scarcity of Mauritian doctors and nurses, the public once more will vilify us, without knowing that this shortage is caused by the ministry itself for its beyond poor work conditions that it imposes on us, professionals, some who have spent years perfecting our craft to be at the service of the people.
As we are writing this, we are very much aware that the ministry’s take on this might be more reactionary than going to the crux of the matter. But still, we, as true professionals, with nowhere to turn to, since we have exhausted the proper channels, take this gamble for we are at the end of our tether. We do not expect much to be honest, but we were keen on giving at least a glimpse of what goes behind the scenes, for we believe that every side of each story, report or claim needs to be heard in the name of fairness, if not anything else.
A Group of Public Health Workers
