The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

SCORES of doctors demonstrated outside the Cabinet Office yesterday morning demanding the Public Hospitals Authority and the Ministry of Health revisit “unfair and insulting” terms and conditions outlined in a proposal for a new industrial contract.

The physicians protested from the Critical Care Block at the Princess Margaret Hospital to the Cabinet Office downtown, where they marched around Rawson Square seven times before holding a press conference.

Charles Clarke, president of the Doctors Union, said they are “unhappy” with their salaries and overtime pay, as well as poor working conditions and no holiday pay. While Dr Clarke said the doctors are “not considering striking at this time,” if their demands are not met they “can withdraw our services in one way or the other.”

“We are unhappy with how we have been treated for the past 10, 15, 20 years. This walk to Cabinet is because of the lethargic approach by the Bahamas government to what I would say is a palatable financial proposal,” Dr Clarke said.

“A proposal was submitted yesterday afternoon [Monday] but we think it is an insult because I would have to work five years for $200 to be added on my salary each month. That is what they want to do to us as professionals.”

“Today we say no. I don’t think they come to the table with the best intentions at heart, not for people like us who work tirelessly and selflessly in hurricanes, on Christmas Day and on our birthdays. This matter needs to be closed today...a strike is not something we are considering because we have families and our heart is in our craft.

“We don’t mind the work, we came into the craft knowing it was going to be demanding but we are working 36 hours straight, not seeing our family and sometimes not eating,” he added.

“You have physicians who cannot get a home, the people in the bank laugh at us. We believe we are reasonable people and we can let them know if we can protest today, we can withdraw our service in some way or the other and let the public also lend the voice to this struggle.”

Dr Clarke also said the doctors are upset that the government continues to hire foreign doctors, specifically Cuban doctors, when there are equally qualified Bahamians who cannot get work.

“The government hired Cuban specialists while Bahamians trained in like jurisdictions are marginalised in their own home,” Dr Clarke said.

“We have a man who was trained and cannot find a job for 15 years in his own country. Yet we take on other doctors, with no language competency certification. So if they can validate these persons from Cuba, why can’t they validate the Bahamians in the same way? This has far reaching consequences in this country. We have about 15 Bahamians who cannot find work in their own country yet this government says they believe in Bahamians. Well show us. Just as you engage these [Cubans], we challenge you to immediately engage these Bahamians today.” Trade Union Congress (TUC) President Obie Ferguson, who was present at the march as well as members of his union, said he will use all his resources to “stand by the doctors” if the government does not agree to their demands.