The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS 

Tribune Staff Reporter 

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

MORE than a week after government officials expressed hopes of finalising new industrial agreements with health unions as early as this month, a key healthcare stakeholder has expressed uncertainty about the timeline, citing a major issue still under dispute.

“It’s very difficult to say,” Consultant Physicians Staff Association (CPSA) president Dr Charelle Lockhart said yesterday when asked how soon she expects negotiations to be completed.

This comes after Labour Minister Pia Glover Rolle told reporters last month that she was hopeful negotiations between the government, CPSA, and the Bahamas Doctors Union (BDU) would be concluded by early February.

The negotiations follow a period of stalled contract talks, which culminated in industrial action taken by healthcare workers under the Trade Union Congress (TUC) last month.

Yesterday, Dr Lockhart expressed doubt that negotiations would conclude soon, telling The Tribune she had not heard back from Ms Glover Rolle.

“I haven’t heard back from Minister Glover, who promised to reach back out to me after her travels, but I have not heard back from her here as yet, and so I cannot see any conclusion happening anytime soon,” she said.

She explained that the main sticking point involves whether consultant physicians should be required to clock in for work.

“I am optimistic that we can get back to what the Prime Minister had already promised us. That would be that the consultant physicians or the attending physicians, it is not reasonable to ask us to clock in and that is the issue that we are having at the moment and so, we have already made a verbal agreement with the Prime Minister and we expect that is what is going to happen moving forward.”

BDU president Dr Camille Glinton-Thompson has previously said doctors are not opposed to recording their attendance but are seeking written guarantees for overtime compensation, especially for the long hours worked on call.

Other unresolved issues include better working conditions, fair compensation, and the need for improved healthcare coverage.

“I am just hoping that we are able to all be in agreement very soon and that this comes to a conclusion very quickly,” Dr Lockhart said

Mrs Glover-Rolle could not be reached for comment up to press time yesterday.