MPATT hopeful of settlement

Despite a two-week ultimatum to withhold overtime services unless a settlement is reached on their basic salary, Medical  Professionals Association of TT (MPATT) is hoping for an “amicable resolution” of the matter. Assistant secretary, Dr Rajendra Persad, said the association views proposals submitted by the Joint Negotiation Team (JNT) of the Regional Health Authorities (RHA), as “entirely unacceptable.” He said that the RHA’s offer of a base salary of $11,960 for senior doctors was “less than that of a primary school principal, who receives some $13,418 per month.” The JNT’s proposed salaries offer, inclusive of “on call,” “overtime,” “transportation” and other perks, amounted to some $28,000 for consultants.

Persad said doctors’ pensions and gratuity payments would be adversely affected because the increases were tied to the basic salary. “Specialist physicians upon retirement, would receive less pensions than say a primary school principal, because pensions are based on the basic salary,” he said. In a statement yesterday, MPATT said that senior doctors would forego overtime after normal working hours on weekends and on public holidays.  Persad told Newsday yesterday there had not been any shift in the doctors’ position.

He said the doctors’ association had not been contacted since MPATT issued its ultimatum on Friday. “We think that our position is a fair one and would assist in bridging the gap between specialist physicians and other professionals, including judges which, 30 years ago, were receiving comparable salaries,” Persad said. South West Regional Health Authority and JNT chairman, Imtiaz Ahamad, told Newsday that a meeting to resolve the matter was being planned this week in an effort to resolve the outstanding issues.