Sickness in health

The psychological 'war' being waged by doctors in the public health service since last year seems destined to be an on-going affair. After all the agitation and negotiation over representation, more money, parity with Tobago, we thought that peace would be restored to the sector and that doctors would now be settling down to provide the hospital service the public needs. But that, it seems, is not the case. We now have Urologica Surgeon Dr Phillip Ayoung-Chee expressing fears that another medical crisis is likely to erupt by mid-August unless something was done 'immediately' to deal with their 'financial burden'. Unlike the two earlier occasions when they staged sickouts, the doctors may leave in response to offers from Caribbean and international health institutions, the specialist added. It is our view that the public has become quite fed up with the constant unrest in the health sector and the repetitious threats of the doctors. Health Minister Colm Imbert has a job on his hands to remedy this unhealthy syndrome but if the ultimate solution is the import of foreign doctors then he should not hesitate to apply the cure.

The fact is that many of these eternally grousing professionals became doctors because of scholarships and/or student loans provided by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, the University of the West Indies where they obtained their degrees is heavily subsidised by taxpayers' money. The obvious conclusion to be drawn from this on-going confrontation, as we have stated before, is that the spirit of service has virtually disappeared from the breasts of these doctors and has been replaced by an overriding concern with the level of their remuneration. The doctors first mentioned offers from Caribbean and international health institutions and a few weeks invitations from the United Kingdom and the United States. Should local doctors accept these "offers" then, in effect, Trinidad and Tobago, a developing country, would virtually be subsidising hospitals and services in other countries. The two sickouts staged by many of the junior doctors late last year and earlier this year were apparently not simply industrial action, but also came over as politically motivated. And while it may have no bearing, it is, however, instructive that the implied threat by some doctors of an August exodus should have come literally on the eve of the Local Government Elections. A close look at the public health sector as it has "developed" within recent years reveals a mafia-like grip exercised by certain senior doctors who enjoy the best of two worlds, giving a minimum of service in public hospitals while earning huge incomes from their private clinics. They are also in a position to use junior doctors as pawns in a game to disrupt the service since the juniors depend on them for recommendations in order to specialise or obtain promotions or for opportunities to become partners in private hospitals. Who benefits when the public health service breaks down or is kept in a state of crisis? Minister Imbert must move decisively to break this stranglehold, otherwise there will be no peace in the sector.