(Trinidad Express) House officers at the Port of Spain General Hospital say the chronic shortage of staff and non-payment of overtime at the hospital are becoming untenable.
The doctors claim that since May they have not been paid overtime. If the situation does not improve, health care at the hospital could be heading towards crisis proportions soon, doctors told the Express.
According to their contracts, the doctors must work seven sessions per month, and must be compensated for working additional sessions. To deal with the staff shortage however, house officers are working as many as ten sessions and are yet to be compensated.
The Express spoke with one such doctor yesterday who has accrued more than $20,000 in overtime. He described the distress he and his colleagues are currently experiencing as a result of not being paid overtime since May. He said the doctors were afraid to speak out publicly, fearing that they would lose their jobs.
“The situation is so distressing, we keep working the extra sessions, hoping that things will change but months have gone by and still we have not been paid for overtime. These doctors have to pay rent, mortgage, car loans, and since many of the doctors are foreigners, they also need to see about their families back home. It is not fair, what kind of message is being sent to foreigners coming here to work?” he asked.
“It’s not motivation that is driving us because right now the doctors aren’t motivated. Our consciences are what’s driving us to continue because we know that we can’t compromise health care, we can’t leave our patients to suffer because that will not be fair to them.”
The doctor claimed that the hospital medical chief of staff, Dr Colin Furlonge, has advised the doctors to adjust their rosters so that each doctor works their stipulated seven sessions.
“We have tried this recommendation, but because there are not enough doctors to be spread around, it is not possible for doctors to work just seven sessions. If every doctor decides that he or she will work only seven sessions, then you will have other sessions that are unaccounted for,” he said.
Furlonge could not be reached for comment yesterday.
In early December, Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan announced that a new batch of Cuban doctors and nurses had arrived in Trinidad. While an influx of nurses and specialists is a welcome sight, the house officers at the hospital contend that junior doctors are specially needed to work on the wards and ground levels of the hospital.
This is not the first time problems affecting junior doctors at the hospital have been brought to attention.
Several weeks ago an unsigned letter listing a number of grievances among junior doctors was circulated to media houses.
Among the claims made in the letter were that junior doctors have to spend money hiring attorneys to get monies owed to them by the North West Regional Health Authority and that accident and emergency junior doctors are being denied compensatory days for public holidays. The letter also stated that junior doctors must work under poor conditions and use poor unsafe on-call facilities.
“There is a false belief that being a doctor is a noble profession, we urge parents to guide their children otherwise. Being a doctor in T&T is real hell and this situation is a national shame,” the letter concluded.
In response to a few questions sent to the board of the NWRHA regarding the contents of the letter, the Express was told that a meeting was held between management and doctors to discuss the matter of compensation and that another meeting was scheduled to take place.
But a doctor speaking on the condition of anonymity said the second meeting was cancelled and the doctors still do not know when they will be compensated for working extra sessions.
When contacted yesterday, Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan said he had not been apprised of the issue regarding overtime payments. He added that it must be investigated. The minister also said the doctors affected should write him directly on the matter.
“We are not fighting with government or with management but doctors are humans too. And so we expect management to make the work environment more conducive for their staff to thrive and provide more doctors and not compromise the health care of its citizens,” said an aggrieved doctor.
