The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

AFTER saying on Sunday officials expected junior doctors to demonstrate Monday, Health Minister Dr Duane Sands said yesterday "there was no disruption" of healthcare services in the country.

"The Bahamas Doctors Union requested a delay in the meeting with the Ministry of Health and the Department of Labour," Dr Sands said regarding a planned meeting between him and the BDU that was scheduled for 2pm yesterday.

"The meeting was rescheduled to (this) afternoon."

However, representatives from the Bahamas Nurses Union and the Bahamas Doctors Union held a press conference yesterday to air their grievances. Since more than 200 workers engaged in a "sick out" last week, representatives of the BNU say they have still not met with Dr Sands.

The BNU also said they still have not received outstanding money owed to them. The nurses have applied for a strike vote, setting the stage for possible industrial action over the disputes.

Meanwhile, senior house officers or junior doctors are objecting to requirements that they either be chosen for a residency programme within one of the Public Hospital Authority's medical departments or enrol in a mandatory foundation programme that will gear them toward private practice.

In the latter case, senior house officers two years out from internship will have three years to complete the programme and pass an exam or be pushed out of the public healthcare system.

On Sunday, Dr Sands said the changes had been planned for some time.

"Over a decade or more we've been gradually increasing the standards," he said.

"It used to be someone would get a private practice licence just after completing an internship but that doesn't serve the public well. You cannot say 'I'm a doctor' but camp out in a place where you're neither fish nor fowl. Nobody envisioned young physicians being essentially permanently in a position where they cannot practice independently. Without qualifying to take the (Special Purpose Examination) and passing the exam, the Medical Council won't give licences to practice independently. And there will be no more staying as a mid-level doctor in a public hospital for 20 years."