AS the healthcare debate rages on, Alicia Baptiste, President of the St. Lucia Nurses Association, has spoken about the need to improve working conditions for nurses, as well as for nurses to be included in the policy-making aspect of healthcare.
She pointed out that a lack of access to healthcare is a battle in which nurses “need to be at the forefront” especially in regards to “advocating for access to health [care].”
Baptiste noted that “The right to health applies to nurses as well.”
The president also called for a ‘people-centred approach’ to healthcare that includes “fostering partnerships” to develop innovative models of health care delivery.”
She said, “A people-centred approach, a functional health system, the availability of an appropriately-skilled workforce and addressing the issues of access, are the critical building blocks for universal health care coverage.”
