Allwood-Anderson

A top-level meeting will take place today at the Ministry of Finance to discuss the latest impasse between the island's nurses and the Government.

The Nurses' Association of Jamaica (NAJ) is accusing various health authorities of ignoring an agreement signed by the ministries of Health and Finance last year to pay outstanding sessional allowances to some nurses.

"We notice that the Ministry of Health, and the directors of finance and parish managers have been reluctant in supporting the claim; some of them have outrightly refused to give the claim that the ministry settled," says president of the NAJ, Edith Allwood-Anderson.

The meeting was called after the NAJ's threat of industrial action was abandoned on Friday after the Ministry of Finance responded to an ultimatum issued by the nurses.

Meanwhile, the NAJ says the association would be taking the grouses back to the Ministry of Labour if the issue is not settled at today's meeting.

In the meantime, with the nursing profession facing a numbers crisis worldwide, Allwood-Anderson called for the Government to invest more money in the health sector.

- M.B.