Western health centres see fewer patients

MONTEGO BAY, St James — There were fewer people than usual seeking medical care at State-run medical facilities in western Jamaica on Friday as members of the public appeared to heed warnings to only seek help if they had no other choice because junior doctors withdrew their services. “Last night I told them not to come unless it is urgent or an emergency,” clinical coordinator for the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) Dr Delroy Fray told the Jamaica Observer Friday afternoon. While he did not have supporting data to share at the time, Fray said there were fewer than usual admissions to accident and emergency (A&E) departments across St James, Hanover, Westmoreland, and Trelawny.

“We kind of control it, because we did not want the patient who needs care to suffer because of [the strike],” Dr Fray explained. At 8:00 am on Friday, junior doctors across Jamaica went on strike to protest the delay by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) in handing down a ruling related to years of wrangling over retroactive overtime payments. To fill the gap, senior doctors, many of them consultants, had to step up and shoulder the additional workload, particularly in A&E departments.

“We assigned all the doctors from yesterday; everybody knows what they were supposed to do and they have fulfilled it,” Dr Fray stated. At Noel Holmes Hospital in Lucea, one nurse confirmed that patients stayed away. [I] don’t even think the doctors see 10 people from morning,” she told the Observer.

Of the three shifts scheduled for the day, the first shift — which ended at 3:00 pm — was staffed by five of its six doctors, comprising senior and Cuban physicians. However, all 14 junior doctors assigned to the parish’s six curative clinics stayed away, according to medical officer of health for the Hanover Health Department Dr Kaushal Singh. “Due to that, we had to reorganise services.

We were supposed to have six curative clinics — meaning the six clinics where doctors are supposed to go, [and] we had to reappoint four clinics [where patients were provided with new dates within two weeks],” Singh told the Observer. “Two clinics were operated by the senior medical officers — Lucea in the western end of the parish and Mount Peto in the eastern section. Anybody who needs a repeat prescription should go to these clinics and get their prescription filled,” Singh advised.