​Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister Lionel Max Hurst has confirmed that nurses who left work to attend a meeting last week will not be paid.

“If you don’t work you don’t get paid and there cannot be anything the matter with that,” Hurst told the weekly Cabinet Press Conference

Nurses were called to attend an urgent meeting of the Antigua and Barbuda Nurses Association last week.

Hurst said their absence caused the Sir Lester Bird Medical Center (SLBMC) to cancel some surgeries and to reduce other services that are usually provided by the hospital.

The following day the number reporting for work increased but still has not returned to the usual level.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Molwyn Joseph said he hopes the issue can be resolved soon.