When doctors leave, what happens to the patients, Brown warns

Senior trade unionist Senator Lambert Brown this week cautioned that the Government’s move to scrap incentive and emergency duty allowances for doctors who are mandated to work overtime could have a detrimental impact on the health sector should frustrated doctors decide to consider their options.

Brown, who was making his closing submission Wednesday on behalf of the Jamaica Medical Doctors’ Association (JMDA) to a panel of three adjudicators at the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT), said the medical professionals were just asking to be treated fairly.

The JMDA and the Ministry of Health and Wellness have been locked in a dispute from 2023 over overtime payments. The matter was referred to the IDT by the minister of labour.

Among the issues placed at the feet of the IDT panel by the JMDA is a demand for the Government to make retroactive payment for emergency duty allowance starting from April 1, 2022.

The doctors are also pressing for the reinstatement of incentive allowance, which was reportedly unilaterally removed by the Government.

“It can’t be against the national interest to say to doctors, we are paying you a certain amount of money to keep you in here, we going to take it away from you without your permission, even though we had an agreement with you. When those doctors leave, what happen to the patients?” he said.

Additionally, the JMDA wants the Government to make retroactive payments to doctors for incentive allowance from April 1, 2023.

In his appeal to the tribunal, Brown argued that doctors were forced to work way beyond their specific shifts at times, noting that the Government’s 15-hour-per-week overtime policy, if applied to doctors, could lead to chaos in the public health sector.

Brown urged the IDT panel to respect the sanctity of contracts and reject the Government’s proposal, which he said was rooted in disregard for a signed agreement.

He urged the IDT, in its ruling, to restore the incentive allowance to the doctors.

Arguing that the Government had decided to brush aside its contractual obligation, Brown said what was being adjudicated before the tribunal was what he termed “government badness versus the rule of law”.

Contractual obligations must be honoured, Brown stressed, and ‘government badness’ must not prevail.

He warned that a failure by the Government to obey the rule of law could lead to a state of lawlessness in the country.

He told the IDT that doctors were currently being paid 2021 overtime rates.

On Wednesday, Brown also dismissed the Government’s appeal to the IDT that it was against the national interest for the Tribunal to make an award for doctors to receive retroactive overtime pay dating back to April 1, 2023.

Brown argued that in the fiscal policy paper, the Government proposed retroactivity.

“So, is the Government acting against the national interest?” he questioned.

RECEIVED RETROACTIVE PAYMENT

He said many workers in the public sector received retroactive payments dating back to 2022.

The trade unionist also dismissed concerns by the Government that with the increase in public-sector salaries, the overtime rates would not be sustainable.

According to Brown, the Government side did not present to the IDT panel any data in support of their argument.

In his closing argument, Brown noted that the agreement to pay multiple rates to doctors was crafted in the 2017 to 2021 heads of agreement between the JMDA and the Government. The JMDA said the Government unilaterally scrapped that agreement.

However, Brown told the IDT adjudicators that the JMDA was not averse to making a modification to the contract.

The JMDA is pushing for the IDT to make an award of $31 billion in back money for overtime, while the Government’s calculation for retroactive overtime payment for the doctors is $23 billion.

During the months of deliberations before the IDT, a total of 171 pieces of exhibits were submitted to the panel.

Of the total exhibits, 92 per cent, or 157, were presented by the JMDA, and eight per cent, or 14, were put forward by the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

Citing several instances in which doctors have worked over extended periods without breaks, Brown said one medical practitioner who was pregnant worked 10 nights straight on emergency. Another doctor, a neurosurgeon, worked for 30 days straight as the need arose.

Brown argued that these medical professionals had to go the extra mile to save lives.

He warned that the Government should tread carefully, as the health sector could be hit hard by an exodus of doctors.

The doctors have served the country more than the politicians have served, he said, noting that government ministers and members of parliament (MPs) received a massive pay hike under compensation review.

“What is it that makes an MP get two times the salary of Dr Walter, a 30-year veteran and general surgeon,” Brown asked.

“Nobody said it’s against the national interest for MPs to get $14 million,” said Brown, adding that many of them just bang the desk in Parliament.

He said many doctors were earning between $6 million and $8 million.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com