Fray: Effects of medical consultants’ no-show to linger
Published:Tuesday | February 25, 2025 | 12:08 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Dr Delroy Fray, clinical coordinator at the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), says the disruption caused by a sick-out by medical consultants over retroactive salary payments on Monday – and which could continue today – is likely to impact services in the region for a few days.
“The clinics and elective operations will be curtailed, probably for the next two days, but I do not think it will go beyond two days. Any emergency that requires consultant input will be dealt with, so the patients will not be suffering,” Fray told The Gleaner on Monday.
“The services will be run by senior residents, who are consultant-trained but have not had any posts as yet, and by the junior doctors,” continued Fray. “My opinion of the whole thing, based on what will be done, is that it should not affect the services to a very great extent, just the clinics and the operating elective list.”
Medical consultants in the public health sector took what they called a mental health break on Monday to press home their demand for the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service to pay their retroactive salaries within this fiscal year, which ends next month. The outstanding sums, which formed part of a compensation review, cover the period between April 2022 and December 2024.
Last week, the Association of Government Medical Consultants rejected an offer from the finance ministry to pay retroactive salaries between April and June this year, describing the delay in payment as unjust and unfair.
Fray noted that there are 57 consultants assigned to WRHA hospitals in St James, Trelawny, Hanover, and Westmoreland.
“The Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover has only one consultant; Falmouth Public Hospital in Trelawny has two; and Savanna-la-Mar Public Hospital in Westmoreland has eight, to include two in the anaesthetic ward, two in the orthopaedic department, three in obstetrics and gynaecology, and one in paediatrics. The Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James has the bulk of consultants, with 46 assigned, but only five are at work,” Fray explained.
“There are patients who would have been on the waiting list [for elective procedures] for some time and, to those patients, this has a great impact, and I am in sympathy with that. There are patients who will attend the clinic who might need prescriptions to be refilled. We will have somebody there to assist with that as well, to minimise the impact it will have on our patients,” added Fray.
Two months ago junior doctors also staged a protest over compensation issues.