Some ninety percent of junior doctors have called in sick across the country as industrial action by healthcare workers forced the closure of follow-up clinics today. 

At a press conference, Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) Managing Director Aubynette Rolle confirmed that most physicians represented by the Bahamas Doctors Union (BDU) have not reported for work, while 60 percent of senior physicians under the Consultant Physicians Staff Association (CPSA) have also called in. 

Mrs Rolle said the PHA, alongside the Minister of Health and senior executives, has activated contingency plans to ensure the continuation of safe and quality patient care. Non-urgent follow-up clinics have been temporarily closed to reallocate staff to acute and inpatient care.

Among nursing staff, Mrs Rolle said ten percent have called out. In Grand Bahama, 25% of healthcare workers have called in sick. Meanwhile, 15 percent of workers have called in at Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre.

Mrs Rolle said: "We have started our strategized process to ensure that the continuation of safe quality patient care happens. I can say that we started our contingencies to ensure that there is nobody who will suffer from not having direct patient care. 

"We have closed those follow-up clinics to ensure that we were able to bring in those professionals within the hospital to take care of acute and emergent illnesses, as well as those persons who are in-patients within the hospital."

The industrial action is reportedly part two-day nationwide strike, according to Trade Union Congress (TUC) president Obie Ferguson, who announced yesterday that the government will feel the “might of the workers” after three years of unmet demands.