No more go-slow for Bze docs
After two days of go-slow and almost a month of negotiations, doctors from throughout the country will be back at work as usual tomorrow. But that’s not to say anything has been resolved. The Ministry of Health has appointed a tribunal to settle the labour dispute through binding arbitration. While the tribunal hears testimony from both parties, the doctors are required to cease all go-slow and “work to rule” actions. This afternoon doctors from the K.H.M.H. and the Northern, Southern and Western hospitals met the press accompanied by their lawyer, Leo Bradley. The doctors say they were forced to take drastic measures because the promises made to them were not upheld.
Dr. Baldimino Barboza, Physician, Northern Regional
“What we are asking government is what we are due. Like every other public officer gets paid for overtime, we are asking for that. That is in the Laws of Belize, we are not asking the ministry for any raise in salary. As far as services are concerned, at least I can speak for the north, where I work. I have been working with the service now for the last twenty years. As a Belizean, I think it is my right and my duty to work in the government institutions because if I had an interest in making more money, I would probably be out there in the private sector. If we are given the proper equipment, the services have to improve, because we are here, we are the man power, and the services must improve.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“So you’re saying it’s largely because of a lack of or poor equipment…”
Dr. Baldimino Barboza
“Well equipment, the lack of basic medication. When patients come, we see them, we give a prescription, and they go to the pharmacy and they find that they don’t get the medicines. So if all of this improves, the services has to get better.”
Dr. Lesbia Guerra, Chief of Staff, San Ignacio Hospital
“Our main concern at the San Ignacio Hospital, is the infrastructure of the hospital. For those that have not been or have not seen the hospital, it is a wooden building that over the past fifty years since its establishment, repairs after repairs have been done. It’s long past its life’s span; you don’t have to be an engineer to notice it. Therefore, we think that it needs to be replace, not for the doctors, but as an essential service that the public at large needs. Also in San Ignacio, we consider the administration department to be inefficient and of poor collaboration with the entire staff, therefor affecting the working relations in that hospital.”
The five member tribunal will be appointed within the next three weeks.
