THE EDITOR: ​Recently I attended clinic at the Toco Health Centre. All members of staff were on time, except the doctor. As patients became impatient (pardon the pun) a nurse said the doctor called to say he would be late. He eventually arrived around 11 am and with no apology began to see the 20 odd patients (I was there since 7 am).

I was first in line and the doctor opened my file and immediately began to write out a prescription. I had to ask him questions about issues which I had that were dutifully recorded by the attendant nurses before he arrived. While attending to me, he received a phone call from someone who appeared to be a patient whom he told that “…there were other doctors that you could see.” I got the impression that was from his private practice.

When I went to the pharmacy, I discovered that he had doubled my medication although my latest blood work showed an improvement in my condition from the previous one. I received a second opinion from another doctor who told me that my medication should either have remained the same or discontinued because it has possible negative side effects.

​This is not the first time that doctors sent to the Toco clinic are very late or do not attend at all so the question remains who in management is checking up on this?

​Another issue relates to the doctors who are on three-month contracts. The majority of them, I believe, are scholarship or GATE recipients who have to fulfil their obligations to the State. Besides having no security of tenure, these doctors do not have stipulated sick leave or vacation leave, or even "bank days" in order to do any personal business.

The system allows for these young professionals to be kept on three-month contracts ad infinitum. There seems to be no limitation, eg one year or two year or two years, after which they must be given at least a one-year contract with all the privileges of vacation and sick leave – not to mention tenure.

​At the same time, the Ministry of Health is stating that we have a severe shortage of doctors. Don’t our administrators see a connection between our shortage of doctors, nurses, etc and the way they are being treated?

Please note that the doctors that I referring to at the beginning all have permanent tenure and are not those on contract.

S LEE POW

via e-mail

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