ULTIMATUM

Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton said the ministry is on high alert for any potential disruptions to the healthcare system by doctors.

“To the extent that it disrupts the health system, we have to put contingency in place, and I’ve advised the team to begin to put that preparation in place,” Tufton told The Gleaner yesterday.

The Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA) has warned of potential healthcare service disruptions if the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) fails to make a ruling in its case against the Government by Friday. It is seeking to claim $31 billion in outstanding overtime and incentive payments. The Government has calculated retroactive overtime payment for the doctors at $23 billion.

“We’ve worked for the past 42 months, long hours, in some of the most adverse conditions – in resource-deficient facilities, with poor accommodation, and high doctor-patient ratios. We’ve worked, we deserve to be paid, we deserve a ruling. Our patience has been exhausted,” JMDA President Dr Jubilee Brown-Service said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The JMDA and the Ministry of Health and Wellness have been locked in a dispute over the issue since 2023, and the matter was referred to the IDT by Labour Minister Pearnel Charles Jr.

Hearings in the case were completed in April this year, following the submission of more than 170 pieces of evidence, the JMDA said.

Under the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act, rulings from the IDT should be awarded within 21 days. However, extensions can be granted based on the complexity of the case.

The act also categorises doctors as essential workers, and, as such, they do have a formal, legal right to strike.

‘DELAY IS UNACCEPTABLE’

JMDA General Secretary Dr Fabian Blake said the wait for a ruling is objectionable.

“That delay is unacceptable, and it raises serious questions about the accountability, transparency, and timely administration of justice in industrial disputes. Workers should not be left in prolonged uncertainty when financial pressures mount and their bargaining position is weakened,” he added.

Brown said the matter now has implications for other trade unions and is urging them to publicly show support for the JMDA’s cause.

“This is no longer a dispute involving doctors. This is now a national workers’ rights issue. When a worker or a union completes its case, presents its evidence, and followed the right process, it is entitled to a timely decision. And when that decision is delayed for months without a clear explanation, the rights of every worker who depends on Jamaica’s industrial system are placed at risk,” he reasoned.

Tufton, in the meantime, said it is unusual for “this level of drastic action against the IDT” and expressed his desire for “good senses to prevail [and urged doctors] not to put patients’ lives at risk”.

“I am hoping that there will be a resolution to the issue as soon as possible because we want our doctors to be comfortable and satisfied and our patients to be well served,” he said.

Trade unionist Lambert Brown, who represented the doctors, argued that they 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.

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

“There are doctors who every other day must work 24 hours per day. That’s called one in two,” he said. “For a doctor who is working 24 hours every other day, it means that the pay they get every month, two thirds of that pay is at a rate of 2021 salary,” he said.

The trade unionist suggested that there are “people interfering and trying to influence the panel of three as to what decision they must make”, thus causing the delay.

“There are a lot of busy bodies around, some who believe that ‘Oh, the Government didn’t put up a strong case, but see what you can do for the Government because there may be national interest issues, and the Government can’t afford it’,” he said.

In early September, the JMDA stated that it would give the IDT more time to hand down a decision while expressing frustration with the long delay.

Weeks later, it warned of the disruptions to the public-health system as junior doctors were restive.

The JMDA is once again demanding that the IDT acts. It said the tribunal should provide a clear explanation for the delay, a firm timetable for a decision, and an independent ruling based on evidence presented to the tribunal.

“This is not a demand for special treatment. It is a demand for the same that has been given to every other worker of Jamaica. It is a demand for fairness, accountability, and respect for the rights of Jamaicans, Jamaican workers, and the rights of medical doctors,” Brown stated.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com