By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedai.net

MEMBERS of the Consultant Physician Staff Association (CPSA) and the Bahamas Doctors Union (BDU) say the government has made them feel “easily replaceable” in the country’s healthcare system, highlighting unresolved issues over health insurance, overtime pay, and fair compensation.

“The impression that we get is they feel like we can be replaced,” said Dr Charelle Lockhart. “If we don’t want to do the work, then they can find 130 other speciality trained physicians to come in and run the hospital.

Dr Lockhart said many senior doctors continued working during this week’s two-day strike, even if they wished to call in sick due to grievances. According to her, senior doctors kept the hospital together during the industrial action despite what she called “misinformation” from the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA). 

Her comments followed an interim injunction the Davis administration secured on Tuesday, ordering healthcare workers and other union members to return to work after two days of industrial action. Justice Darron Ellis granted the injunction, restraining members of the CPSA, BDU, Bahamas Air Traffic Controllers Union, and the Bahamas Nurses Union from further strikes or industrial action.

PHA managing director Aubynette Rolle said absenteeism among doctors represented by the BDU had increased from 90 percent on Monday to 98 percent on Tuesday, while CPSA absenteeism remained around 60 percent.

Dr Lockhart criticised the government for offering inadequate compensation, noting the union rejected two offers before being told in September that the second was final. She said the quality of a physician is “selfless,” noting doctors don’t expect grand gestures in pay. However, she said “plantation days” are over. 

 “At the end of the day, nobody is going to work for nothing,” she said during her interview, which aired on Eyewitness News’ Beyond the Headlines. “I went away, and many of my colleagues went away and did even more than I did in terms of super sub specialising. So you have some expert physicians in this country who are being treated as though they could easily be replaced. And that is unfair, and it is unfortunate.”

She said CPSA members do not receive overtime pay or group health insurance, despite their industrial agreement expiring in 2021. Negotiations since 2022 have yet to result in a resolution.

BDU President Dr Camille Glinton-Thompson said their industrial agreement with the PHA and the Department of Public Health expired in 2017, and two and a half years of negotiations have produced no results. The union is advocating for junior doctors to be compensated for overtime and holiday pay, as they currently work 60 to 80 hours per week without additional compensation.

“If there are 40 patients on the ward, 50 patients on the ward, we continue because we will not leave, and we’re committed to not leaving until the work is done,” Dr Glinton-Thompson said during the interview. “We’re asking the government to consider to please, please compensate us for our overtime and our holiday pay.”

Dr Glinton-Thompson clarified that the BDU was not officially on strike, explaining that some union members called in sick due to various challenges but did not confirm specific numbers. She also noted that most junior doctors do not have health insurance, despite ongoing negotiations to include them in group policies.

Both union leaders expressed concern that low pay, lack of resources, and poor working conditions are discouraging doctors from staying in the country’s healthcare sector. Dr Glinton-Thompson revealed that 13 junior doctors resigned from her department between 2023 and 2024.