Doctors unhappy with offer

DOCTORS have given a resounding thumbs down to the latest offer made to them by the Joint Negotiating Team (JNT) concerning new wages and allowances for medical practioners in Trinidad and Tobago for 2003. The doctors have also demanded that the Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) bring wage negotiations to a close by March 28.

In a statement yesterday, Medical Professionals Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MPATT) Assistant Secretary, Dr Lakhan Roop, said MPATT’s negotiating team met Saturday with its membership to apprise them of the offer made by the JNT. “The doctors unaminously expressed their total dissatisfaction with the offer made. The offer is completely unacceptable; it is inferior to what their Tobago counterparts received for the years 2001 and 2002. This does not even take into consideration the additional benefit of 25 percent Tobago Incentive Allowance,” Roop declared.  He said the RHAs have yet to explain the reasons for this disparity between the respective offers.

“The doctors are disappointed that thus far the RHAs have not made all efforts to bring all doctors in Trinidad and Tobago into parity. They are not expediting the process in order to complete the negotiations for mutually accepted terms and conditions by March 28, 2003. They seem to want to extend it beyond this stipulated deadline as laid out and accepted in good faith by the Inter-Ministerial Team and the doctors,” he said. Roop added that further meetings will be held in individual institutions to plan the way forward.