Completely baffled, unions in the health network quickly denounced the government’s “irresponsible” decision to employ infected and asymptomatic nursing staff to avoid more load shedding on Tuesday.
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“It worries us a lot. Health workers were a major transmitter of the virus during the first wave, ”underlines Isabelle Dumaine, president of the Fédération de la santé du Québec (FSQ-CSQ).
While she agrees that protective measures have improved since the start of the pandemic, she fears workers will infect each other. Necessarily, the already enormous pressure on the network could increase.
“We are told about calculated risk, but we are going to put positive people together with vulnerable people. What will be the result? Asks Ms. Dumaine.
Other solutions
The Interprofessional Health Federation of Quebec (FIQ), for its part, ardently disagrees with the government’s decision. “We find that completely unacceptable and irresponsible,” castigates its president, Julie Bouchard.
According to her, other avenues should have been approached before making “this appalling choice”.
Among these, improving access to N95 masks, facilitating screening in the workplace, limiting staff travel or calling on the army.
“Even moving the load shedding to the next level would have been a better solution,” according to Ms. Bouchard.
What the unions deplore is that in addition to having been warned of this new measure just before the press conference, several questions remain unanswered.
What will be the criteria for employing infected personnel? Will they share the same dining spaces? How are we going to make sure they don’t infect anyone?
“We do not know how to manage all this and there is no one who has the answers,” says Réjean Leclerc, president of the Federation of health and social services, who fears another wave of resignations.