Doctors’ impasse, an unending story

THE EDITOR: The doctors’ impasse seems like a never ending story. I think it looks like a clear case of playing chicken, as in the case of who will back down first kind of thing. Mr Imbert talks about and treats the doctors as if they are expendable, and maybe they are to an extent, but I wonder if the wealth of their total experience and expertise is indeed expendable.

He is very flippant in his remarks and talks about the coming of the Cuban doctors as a reliable solution to the problem. However, you cut or splice it, being a doctor first requires the human need to exercise compassion and to know the lifestyle connected to the type of patients being treated, before a patient can feel connected to that doctor. Both the doctors from India and Africa can adapt themselves to the people here, since all our backgrounds have deep connection and linkage with these two types of people. The only thing we have linking us with the Cuban doctors is the sun, the laid back life, and our Prime Minister.

I agree, that the actions of some doctors leave much to be desired, but in the same light since there are some doctors who are very dedicated to their profession. Mr Imbert’s statement in the newspaper that they in the Ministry are not worried about the doctors, because they are bringing in Cuban doctors to full their posts, is the same thing as scab labour. Where are the unions now? Tsk! Tsk! A classic example of dedication is a very close relative of mine, who is a practising doctor in the Chaguanas area. His parents sacrificed everything. They were very poor and humble people, who did everything possible to send their son to medical school abroad. Wearing hand-me-downs, and eating the barest of foods they did what they had to do to ensure that their son fulfilled his and their dream of becoming a medical doctor. Alas! His mother did not live to see her dream come true, but he is a doctor that any family would be proud of. I am. He sees patients up to at times 10-11 o’clock at nights, and might I add that this is a nightly routine.

So for Mr Imbert to equate that dedication with a “generous package” and a “46 percent” increase is like comparing mauby to champagne. There is no comparison. What the Minister should do, is what the Ministry of National Security should also be doing, and that is to weed out the “rogue elements”. If a doctor should be in the wards, doing his duty, then ensure that he does just that, and not doing otherwise. In the same instance, I personally know of a nurse who uses her working time to do her errands, but who checks on these things? Mr Imbert should start climbing the ladder from the first rung, and then maybe you can reach the top, without falling down on his derriere.

R BOODAN
Valsayn