The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

ANOTHER senior ophthalmologist has issued a scathing critique of the Public Hospital Authority’s recruitment of two Indian eye doctors at the Princess Margaret Hospital, calling the move “unconventional, discriminatory, and unfair”.

In a letter to The Tribune, Dr Dawn Russell-Hermanns said the resignation of Medical Chief of Staff (MCS) Dr James Johnson and the total disregard for both his recommendations and the advice of the entire Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), should “speak volumes to the Bahamian people”.

“The Bahamian people should also be afforded the opportunity to consider why these two foreign doctors will not be going through the trial process prior to their promotion to consultants,” said Dr Russell-Hermanns, acting head of the Division of Ophthalmology at PMH.

She said: “The Bahamian people can ponder this question against the factual background that in the past, we have brought in doctors who had seemingly glowing and very impressive resumes but their actual clinical work with patients left much to be desired.”

Dr Johnson resigned with immediate effect on November 22 after reaching an impasse with the PHA over its decision to disregard his recommendations on the appointment of the two Indian eye doctors.

He told The Tribune that he decided to step down from the post after it became apparent that the PHA, namely Managing Director Herbert Brown, had already gone forward with the recruitment exercise despite months of back-and-forth discussion over the changes.

Dr Johnson forecast that the disparity in pay and procedure between the new recruits and previous local hires had the potential to create “big problems”.

His resignation was supported by the Consultant Physicians Staff Association, and its President Dr Locksley Munroe, who flagged issues over the tone and insulting manner in which Dr Johnson was treated.

However, in an email to The Tribune, Dr Jonathan Rodgers pointed to the critical shortage of eye doctors in the country as the motivation behind the apparent break from procedure.

In a detailed account of the appointment process that began in March of this year - from his perspective - Dr Rodgers alleged that there were currently only four board certified or fellowship certified practising eye doctors in The Bahamas. He said that the two ophthalmologists “have written numerous academic papers published in accredited ophthalmological journals and have had more surgical experience, at this stage of their ophthalmic careers, than any other surgeon at PMH”.

In her letter, Dr Russell-Hermanns said that the motivation and rationale for the appointment, as previously outlined by Dr Rodgers, were misleading and unfounded.

Speaking directly to her own surgical experience, Dr Russell-Hermanns outlined her ophthalmology residency at Yale University/Yale New Haven Hospital; two fellowships at prestigious universities: McGill University in Canada, and Cambridge University in United Kingdom; and another fellowship at the Worcestershire Acute Hospital Trust and Kidderminster Care Hospitals in the United Kingdom.

She pointed out that she returned home to The Bahamas in December 2013 as the only Bahamian retinal surgeon, adding that the training level of the recruited Indian retina specialist is on par to her level in 2013.

Dr Russell-Hermanns also included a listing of six fellowship trained and board certified ophthalmologists, inclusive of herself and Dr Rodgers. At the time of the recruitment process, she said, there were two additional doctors practising. Dr Russell-Hermanns also said that three ophthalmologists have completed residency training and are currently practising in the country.

“One of my concerns is and has always been that any ophthalmologist who joins the department ought not be handpicked by one practitioner in the manner in which these two foreign doctors were recruited by Dr Rodgers,” she said.

“The fact that they were hand picked by Dr Rodgers who over the period June, 2015 to September, 2016 has made the least surgical contribution to the Department of Ophthalmology in terms of clinic hours and surgical cases performed is also troubling.”

Comparing output this year, Dr Russell-Hermanns noted that while she has performed 174 public cases, and supervised resident doctors for a significant number of their 142 surgical cases at PMH, Dr Rodgers has performed approximately 30 public surgical cases in the same period.

Foreign doctors are typically recruited as senior registrars, and then become eligible for promotion after one year if their performance was satisfactory.

In his earlier statement, Dr Rodgers said that the two Indian doctors accepted the appointment of senior registrars initially, but then advised that they had already been offered positions as consultants and requested an upgrade of the status being offered by PMH. Consultants have the right to engage in private practice.

Taking into account the level of expertise and the dire need for their services, Dr Rodgers said the PHA decided that the doctors be appointed full-time consultants on a three-year contract without the right to a private practice. He said this decision was agreed to by all save Dr Johnson and an Eye Department registrar.

For her part, Dr Russell-Hermanns acknowledged that she considered the “instant promotion” as a personal affront given that her official appointment and promotion to the position of Consultant was only formalised on November 7, after the decision to recruit the doctors, and subsequent criticism, was made.

“I have been home and at PMH since December 2013 working as a consultant, attending consultants meetings and functioning in every respect as a consultant, the exception of course being that I was not officially promoted to the position and I was not paid as such,” she said.

“There is now a foreign retina specialist, to whom I am senior, who has been confirmed as a consultant even prior to her feet hitting Bahamian soil. She will be paid as a consultant from her first day on the job.”

She said: “This in my view is patently unfair and is discriminatory conduct against a Bahamian citizen. The Bahamian public ought to be made aware of it.

“Why should the Indians doctors be brought in as instant consultants with higher pay when equally and more highly trained Bahamian doctors have had to wait for their promotions to this level? “

“I have taken the time to provide the underlying facts on this issue and to identify the inaccuracies and misrepresentations in Dr Rodgers’ statements not merely because it is a personal affront to me and to my colleagues,” Dr Russell-Hermanns said, “but also because what has happened affects the public at large not merely in terms of the ophthalmic medical care they will receive but also to alert them to more examples of the discriminatory practices which are allowed to prevail in our country even in the face of vehement objection.”