Our New Constitution

Mauritius Times – 60 Years

— The Editor

Our constitution has at long last been approved by the Secretary of State. Soon it will have the Royal assent and after the passage of local legislation. It will have the force of law. The registration of electors will then take place and finally the election will be held — perhaps to the satisfaction of “impatient” future candidates and perhaps also to the dislike of some who are well satisfied with what and where they are.

Our new constitution is far from being the ideal one. If we are not altogether happy about the ministerial system it inflicts upon us, we are certainly happy that it gives every adult Mauritian the right of participating in the political life of the island. For over two centuries the toiling-moiling class has been agitating for the recognition of its rights and when today every adult Mauritian finds himself with the right to vote placed in his hands, he cannot but feel that he is witnessing the consummation of an epic struggle. At this glorious moment it would but be the peak of ingratitude to forget those who fell in the struggle and those who are today carrying the torch of freedom alight.

At the risk of appearing a wee bit commonplace we aver that a constitution is not an end in itself but a means to an end — a glorious end indeed. Adult suffrage and semi-responsible government are not all what we have been clamouring for. We want better wages, better housing, better health and better education. Ballot papers have never assuaged the hungry. Nor have they ever cured the sick. But they can be instrumental in securing a happier life. It remains to be seen whether a change in our status will be followed by a fruitful change in our standard of living.

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At the Health Department

THE 1958-59 budget provides for three new posts of Chief Executive Officers for the Health Department. It appears that Government in concurrence with the Head of the Health Department intends placing a Chief Executive Officer at each of the three largest hospitals viz., Civil, Victoria and Mental. These Chief Executive Officers are going to assume the purely administrative duties of the hospitals — duties carried out quite efficiently since the very establishment of those institutions up to now by senior officers of the nursing profession.

The nursing profession as a whole rightly resents the changes contemplated by Government for the simple reason that these changes do imply that the Senior dressers now performing most of the administrative duties in the hospitals are much below the mark — which is certainly a fallacy. What, then, can be Government’s motive in now introducing clerical officers in the administration of hospitals?

We do not in the least suggest that the Senior dressers are perfect models of hospital administrators and that the way they are performing their jobs does not leave room for improvement. On the contrary, we are of opinion that much can and should be done to ameliorate the administration of hospitals and one of the surest ways of doing it is to relieve the Stewards of a multitude of extraneous duties such as preparing pay sheets of the whole personnel of the hospitals, keeping account of revenue, directly controlling the stores and so many other insignificant and cumbersome duties. We feel that if the Senior dressers who are now performing the administrative duties are elevated to a rank equivalent to that of Chief Executive Officer in the respective hospitals and assisted with competent junior clerical officers the administration of hospitals is bound to improve.

What we advocate sounds better in two respects. First, if a member of the nursing profession is appointed to the post of CEO in a hospital, the hospital is going to benefit from a continuity of policy because, being a member of the nursing profession, the officer will not be subject to frequent transfers to other departments. Moreover, the CEO at the top of the administration of a hospital should know to a certain extent the ins and outs of the nursing profession.

Secondly, the elevation of the post of Senior dresser to the level of a CEO within the nursing profession will give more incentive to the profession as a whole. And incentive is something which is glaringly lacking in that profession. The importance of the nursing profession cannot be underestimated, and it will certainly be in best interest of the public at large that members of that profession are not frustrated of their legitimate aspirations. Nor should their merits go unrecognized.

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 29 July 2022