Junior doctors peeved!
Published:Tuesday | December 10, 2024 | 12:09 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Staff Reporter
Carvel McBean leaned on his crutches in front of the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) yesterday, even as he contemplated his next move after prematurely being sent home by hospital officials in the wake of a sickout by junior doctors.
McBean expressed disappointment that he was sent home and told to return on Saturday after being admitted to undergo surgery on Monday.
While the junior doctors have since returned to work, McBean last evening told The Gleaner that he had not made arrangements to return home on the day in question and was scrambling to put together enough fare to take a taxi back to St Thomas where he lives.
“It affects me a lot because, as you can see, I have one limb and I have been feeling pain as well,” he told The Gleaner.
McBean is one of many persons who did not receive medical attention at the KPH and other public health facilities yesterday as they became ‘casualties’ of a wage dispute between the Junior Medical Doctors Association (JMDA) and the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and the Ministry of Health & Wellness.
Honel Tallow, the father of another patient who had an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon yesterday at the KPH, urged the Government and the junior doctors to settle their wage dispute quickly to avoid the kind of impact that yesterday’s sickout by medical practitioners had on members of the public.
He complained that if his son did not receive medical attention on Monday it would not only incur additional transportation costs but he would have to request more time off from work.
24-HOUR ULTIMATUM
The JMDA had issued a 24-hour ultimatum on both ministries to conclude talks on overtime remunerations by December 5. It warned that a failure on the part of the Government to act could result in a disruption in the public health sector.
The JMDA complained that, despite the ultimatum, up to late Sunday, neither of the two ministries had reached out to it.
JMDA President Dr Renee Badroe, told The Gleaner yesterday that junior doctors decided to return to work at 6 p.m. on Monday in the best interest of patient care.
This decision came against the background of a meeting yesterday where the Ministry of Labour and Social Security acted as mediator between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health & Wellness and the JMDA.
Coming out of that meeting, the JMDA and officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and the Ministry of Health will sit at the table today to iron out their differences.
When asked what would be the JMDA’s next move if the unresolved wage issues are not addressed today by the Government, Badroe said she would have to return to the membership of her association to determine how to proceed.
Public healthcare was severely disrupted yesterday morning after junior doctors started calling in sick.
The Ministry of Health & Wellness reported yesterday that public health facilities across Jamaica had started to operate under emergency protocols, as junior doctors had called in sick.
Highlighting what it describes as the major areas of concern, the JMDA said the finance ministry does not want to pay retroactive sums owed to doctors.
It said the ministry wants to impose its rates for overtime and does not want to reinstitute incentive allowance that it unilaterally discontinued.