Home Latest_MA Junior Doctors Restive, Demand Immediate Meeting with Health Minister
Nationwide News understands that the Jamaica Medical Doctor’s Association, JMDA says it will be requesting an immediate meeting with Health Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton.
The decision was made during an emergency meeting of the JMDA at the Bustamante Hospital for Children yesterday.
During the meeting, JMDA members aired grievances about their working conditions.
Chief among those concerns is the security of health workers.
On Sunday, November 10, Councilor for the Trafalgar Division, Kari Douglas was reportedly involved in a stand-off with a medical doctor at the Bustamante Hospital for Children.
It reportedly triggered a shutdown of the Accident and Emergency unit for two hours.
Although Ms. Douglas has apologised, the nation’s medical doctors believe these incidents happen far too often.
Those and other concerns were aired during a meeting of doctors from across the country.
One doctor told the meeting that she’s been threatened with gun violence three times since she’s been employed at a health centre in the corporate area.
Many others are frustrated that there’s no protocol to deal with situations where doctors believe they’re in imminent danger.
To make matters worse, the doctors say it’s their information that many of the security companies employed to the nation’s hospitals and health centres aren’t allowed to touch patients, even if they’re rowdy.
The doctors say even at hospitals with a police post, the response time is often slow.
The doctors believe security companies should be able to do more to protect them.
In fact, they believe there should be a general review and improvement of security across the health sector.
The doctors are asking for counseling to be provided for those traumatized by threats to their safety.
Additionally, the doctors are concerned about how they’re being portrayed in the media.
They say a prominent member of the media unfairly portrayed doctors as callous on a recent programme.
The meeting with the JMDA’s executive and about forty members lasted for almost two and a half hours, as members were given the platform to air their many grievances.
The JMDA’s members voted, and they intend to write to Health Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton, today requesting a meeting for Wednesday.
The JMDA says it will expect a response from the government by Friday.
The association says if neither of those timelines are met, it’s prepared to take industrial action.
Whey di hullabaloo fah? Nationwide was just doing dem job to bring di news. KMT As long as dem did report what happened accurately and fairly whe the outcry fah Junior Doctors? Some a dem Doctors dey very feisty and insensitive tuh
Well, perhaps they can look into a redesign of the emergency departments. Perhaps a second layer of security to be implemented, exploring bulletproof and shatter proof windows in the triage. Some doctors and nurses being allowed to carry a weapon in facilities prone to violent behavior. Hospitals having the authority to remove disruptive and violent persons even patients irrespective of the severity of their condition. There is understandable situations where ppl are going through emotions or maybe even certain medications that alter behaviour, but when it get extreme to the point where life is being threatened and the quality of care is impacted by such unrulyness then a harder stance needs to be taken
Some of the medical doctors fi gweh, yes I said it and I hope some of them are reading dis, they and the nurses feeling like they are doing the people a favour, they love to boast about their profession and they feisty on top of it , when most of them migrate overseas to work they are humble like a cat in other hospitals because they would be disciplined swiftly in short order ,in their private practice they different but when it come to the public hospital they to want treat people like shit…
Their health systems is garbage leave them to time &God