Dear Editor
The great Martin L King once said “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Now recently, I was a bit taken back when a young doctor who is presently practicing at SLBMC told me that he is scared for his future while being employed with the indigenous medical institution.
The young doctor indicated that he enjoys his job at SLBMC & he now feels a sense of gratification after spending numerous years studying abroad.
He then mentioned that he has suddenly developed a fear that he may suffer a fate similar to his colleagues who recently lost their jobs and had become a victim of a flaw that he considers to be in the healthcare system at SLBMC.
Subsequently, he proceeded to declare that as a practicing physician, he understands & respects all protocols that applies to the junior doctors within the institution.
However, he is left perplexed as to why the ” work licenses ” for his fellow colleagues whose licenses have expired, have not been renewed. As a result, he has chosen to stand in solidarity with them and openly share his opinion.
From all reports, he said that for the past two years his colleagues have been attached to SLBMC and the records clearly show that their roles while practicing at the hospital were all executed with distinction.
At the sametime, he continued to say that it is well known that SLBMC along with its satellite clinics have a shortage of doctors, so it is not clear to him, as to why the work licenses for his colleagues were not renewed.
This he thinks and rightly so, certainly leaves the junior doctors in a quagmire. The doctors cannot practice publically neither can they practice privately without a license.
At the sametime, they all have an ‘ up to date ‘ authorize employment contract that terminates several months after the expiry date of their license.
The young man expressed that studying overseas for 7 years or more, and been away from families & friends is not an easy task. It took alot of personal sacrifice & having a close relationship with God to accomplish their goals which has enabled them to return home to make a sterling contribution to the health care system of their country & towards the helping of their families.
At this point it is extremely disheartening to witness some of his colleagues being booted out of the system in such manner he uttered.
He went on to say that it is also a slap in his colleagues faces. Now, he is scared, wondering if he will be on the next list.
It is his view that what has happened is certainly disrespectful & a display of a lack of empathy towards the young people of this country, who is willing to make a contribution towards nation building and be a beacon in the community and by extension to the nation.
Many of us he exclaimed, have become the main breadwinners for our families. Others, are in the middle of preparing themselves to build upon their economic future. Now, they are out of job.
As he concluded the young doctor was adamant that he his making a plea to the prime minister, the health minister & the minister of Labour along with the medical council to address the matter sooner than later, hoping that his plea will not fall on deaf ears..
Alex
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If this true it is important that this situation be rectified. These doctors status must be rectified. These are young professionals who are giving their best. Something is wrong if their status cannot be rectified.
Chiney man Alex ah who write dis yah gee you?
@ Sharon Lycorish: I certainly will agree with you & the author of the article if the concerns Express are really true.
Such treatment can only create frustration & depression for our young people
There are many ways of practicing the healing art; but there is only one way that Heaven approves. God’s remedies are the simple agencies of nature, that will not tax or debilitate the system through their powerful properties. Pure air and water, cleanliness, a proper diet, purity of life, and a firm trust in God, are remedies for the want of which thousands are dying; yet these remedies are going out of date because their skillful use requires work that the people do not appreciate. Fresh air, exercise, pure water, and clean, sweet premises, are within the reach of all, with but little expense; but drugs are expensive, both in the outlay of means, and the effect produced upon the system.—Testimonies for the Church 5:443, 1885 CD 302.2
I hope something is done about this situation. To ensure public health and safety and still provide these young people with what they qualify for.
What a terrible way to treat these medical practitioners, who have taken the Hippocratic oath to protect us from undue harm.
Reading between the lines there seems to be a concerted effort to undermine their medical practices and their futures.
I’m at a loss for words …
If this even gets posted. I realize this media outlet only post the negatives! I sent an email to the editor a while back with my concerns with the nurses while sharing some positive feedback about the institution.
Let us stop finding faults and bring recommendations to the institution where needs be. I’ll say it again, I HAVE PERSONALLY SEEN SOME IMPROVEMENT IN THE SERVICES BEING OFFERED AND I DO HOPE IT GETS BETTER IN DUE TIME.
Black folks strive off of negativity. You best move to europe
Who or which body licenses doctors in the Caribbean.
Have these persons sufficed the requirements to become fully licensed? Have they passed CAMC 1 and 2? Or PLABS or any of the required licensing exams recognized by the medical council as some of the prerequisites for becoming FULLY licensed or have they been depending on the provisional license issued to them under the condition that they work at SLBMC since their intern days and have been in Lala land living on the prayer that it would keep on being extended without them having to complete their Full licensure? A lot of “Antiguan Doctors” feel it’s just graduate from medical school and do intern year and that’s it. They don’t try to invest in themselves or CME or take advantage of many opportunities for CME (much of which are free) to make themselves more complete physicians. They will soon understand when more competitive and competent physicians from overseas with CAMC, PLAB, USMLE exam passes and all the counsels prerequisites come crossing or boarders scooping up their jobs and then cry to government as if it was their indigenous right to be retained or have a job without sufficing the FULL requirements or pushing a bit more to be more complete. There are 3 sides to any story. I hope for these doctor’s sakes what I’m saying isn’t the case.
@hokey
Well everything else is hokus pokus
If you want a job, check your minister ( you might have to anatomize your anatomy ), but who cares
If you want to be medical director, switch sides
If you want to be chief medical officer, just apply and fool off the geriatric squad at PSC
Acing Physiology Psychology Pharmacy ain’t it
So yeah, hokey pokey ( no pun intended ), why not?
There’s two side to a story, what exactly did these young doctors do or did not do. There must be a reasonable explanation for this situation. Did they breach the contract or did something disgraceful? The public would like to know or is there a person purposely not renewing the licenses?
This letter makes no sense. It is the Medical Council that registers Doctors. So how did SLBMC get into the picture? They cannot be employed if they are not registered. Is it that the Medical Council is not satisfied with the internship programme at SLBMC?
I remember years ago, Antigua did not offer an intern programme and interns went to Guyana and I think Jamaica, to do the intern programme. So until there is some clarity what are we really discussing here?
The situation described is incomprehensible. It is, hoever only one side of the story. May be a good idea to approach the officials at the hospital or the medical council to discover why the licenses have not been renewed. Were there conditions that needed to be fulfilled at the years of be which were not completed? Health is a serious life and death business and they need to be sure that whoever is cleared to heal the public are properly vetted. So there a lot of questions that need to be answered before we make judgements.
@ George : You are perfectly correct that health care is a serious life & death situation.
Why then are doctors not reprimanded when something goes wrong when a patient experience some form of mishap instead of sweeping such cases under the table.
Taking the young doctors out of a job of bread & butter àĺcannot be right if they were already in the medical system for 2 years according to what the writer wrote.
THE ENTIRE INSTITUTE WANTS A OVER HAUL WHEN YOU HAVE PERSON WITH CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATIOM LEAKING IT TO FRIENDS AND COMPANY ESPECIALLY THE TYPIST IN RADIOLOGY DEPARTMENT.
7 years…sounds like a cuban trained doctor. why they targeting the cubanitos?
This young doctor has left out very important information possibly for fear of not divulging too much. As someone who has numerous relatives in the system and has seen first hand some of their struggles, please allow me to shed some light on the matter and hopefully get a few of my questions answered as well.
1. Yes, CAMC is a requirement. However, as stipulated in their contract, they are expected to sit that exam during their 1 yr of employment as a junior doctor. Many of these doctors who were recently “terminated” still have another 2-3 months left before said contract ends. Why aren’t their licenses being renewed/extended to the end of the contract? As far as I am aware there was one recent sitting for the exam and another in the next 2 months or so. They have enough time to fulfill the requirements. They have not violated their contract. Although their contract was still valid, they still cannot work on an expired license. This shows discordance between the hospital and the council. The license and contract should be hand in hand.
2. Many of these medical exams have limited space. What then of the persons who did not get the chance to sit the exam due to unavailability of space? Are they to be punished also because they have to wait until another sitting?
3. In this country, it is all about who you know, and who knows you. There have been numerous junior doctors who have worked for as much as 2 years without camc, but have had their licenses renewed multiple times during that period. Seems like poor people pickney can’t catch a break.
4. Since the council has decided not to renew their licenses, but their contracts signed are still valid up until end of year (in some instances), will they be compensated?
5. How can our hospital, who is known to be short of physicians (among other things), send home so many young doctors? Meanwhile, when I go to the ER, there are doctors working who do not even speak the mother tongue well enough to communicate with me…
6. Why in god’s name are they still holding on to that CAMC exam is beyond me. It is not internationally recognized, and BARELY regionally recognized. Countries in the Caribbean such as St Kitts have done away with that exam and developed a system of their own. But Antiguans love inna things so of course we jump on the bandwagon with UWI Mona. Could it be because the Antiguan doctors who introduced that system here were UWI trained? We’ve all seen what they do to persons who weren’t trained under their beloved system. I see someone in a previous comment mention Dr. Humphreys… But there have been others…
7. This recent “termination” of young doctors has left many of the departments drastically short, to the point where they were begging recent interns to reapply as junior doctors. Many of those who have reapplied, are being baptized by fire, as they are now working SOLO because they had no period of acclimatization. Let me re-iterate…. They are working in a department without having a period of “observership” so to speak. Do I need to point out how that could be a shit show?
The problem with our society is that each time someone is brave enough to speak up (even if it is done anonymously), instead of showing solidarity, people jump out of the woodworks throwing questions in the WRONG direction. Please direct your questions to your beloved Minister of Health (some kinda knight inna shining armour), the Hospital Board Members, the Medical Director and his Friends, and the Medical Council.
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