JAMAICA – Militant junior medical doctors have warned that there could be unrest in public clinics and hospitals in the coming days as they threatened to take industrial action over their delayed revised compensation package, but Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton is pleading with them to exercise patience. According to Tufton, the Government is working to iron out outstanding issues related to their compensation and other matters. “There is an earnest attempt, I believe, to sort it out. So I would just encourage some patience until it is sorted out because it is not a matter that is being ignored. It’s just a tedious process,” Tufton told the Jamaica Observer on Friday. President of the Jamaica Medical Doctors’ Association (JMDA) Dr Renee Badroe, however, stressed that the time for action is now and that this is the calm before the storm. The medical doctors are not happy with the finance ministry’s proposed new rate for calculating remuneration for overtime, and the non-payment of retroactive monies. In a scathing letter on Thursday, the JMDA — union representing junior doctors — said that during a meeting the previous day it had given the Government a 24-hour deadline to respond to its demand for a comprehensive and transparent resolution of the issue.

Dr Badroe told the Observer on Friday that the Government’s lack of response way past Thursday’s deadline demonstrates that “they don’t care, and it’s either, what it looks like, their way or the highway. “I can’t guarantee what the doctors will do in the upcoming days. But I can say that now is the calm before the storm and members are upset and our members are demoralised,” she said. Dr Badroe said the doctors are upset that the finance ministry wants to impose a new way of calculating overtime as part of the Government’s compensation review exercise which they believe is unfair, as doctors would be paid at the same level regardless of their schedules or level of work. “And on top of that, [they] don’t want to pay retroactive monies from when the date actually owed, which is from April last year. So they don’t want to pay the retroactive monies, they want to impose a new system that is inequitable, and the JMDA is not standing for that,” she insisted. (Jamaicaobserer)

Photo: The Jamaica Medical Doctors’ Association warned Friday that its members could take industrial action if Government goes ahead and uses a new method to calculate overtime and retroactive payments.