Step up, doctors

THE EDITOR: Why is there a problem with doctors, whether they be “senior or junior, specialist or general practitioner,” working beyond the so-called regular workday of 8 am to 4 pm? This idea of paying doctors “overtime” for working after 4 hours or for working on weekends is utterly ridiculous. The modern world works 24 hours days, 7 days a week. It is time that we in TT get out of the old colonial way of doing business (8-4) and get into the 21st century. Health care is a 24-hour service, as illness or medical emergencies can happen at anytime and as such should be provided on a “shift basis,” with a “night differential” paid to those who work after 6 pm or on the “graveyard shift” (midnight to 8 am).

That is the fair thing to do, but overtime after 4 pm, come on? I know “we have always does things so” and nobody wants to change (especially doctors and other highly skilled professionals who are accustomed to their perks), but the country cannot afford to continue down this path. People have to bend and change. New thinking and new methods must be introduced for doing things; not just to save taxpayers’ money, but to make things run more efficiently. Otherwise TT will never move forward with its Vision 20/20 plan, if it continues conducting business in these archaic ways.

KELVIN C JAMES, Sr
Port-of-Spain