Doctors face disciplinary action over criticism of health plans
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from March 1992.
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Dr. K. Vivekanand, vice president of the CIMDS, and Dr. Marilyn McIntrye, senior paediatrician and member of the Medical Advisory Board, were called into a meeting between the CIMDS and the Board last Thursday night, said CIMDS president Dr. Steve Tomlinson. He stated the two doctors were notified of "strict disciplinary action" to be taken against them by the Board.
Chairman of the Health Authority Board and ExCo member for Health Mr. Ezzard Miller commented on Monday: "If these doctors break the terms of their contract, what can the Health Authority do? Any civil servant is bound by General Orders - they ought to know what the terms and conditions are. What now happens is a matter between the Board and its employees and it will stay that way."
This incident is another manifestation of the increasingly cool relationship between the CIMDS and the Member for Health. The two have not been on good terms since the publication last October of a CIMDS press release expressing "serious reservations and concerns" about the Health Authority.
The reason the CIMDS felt forced to give the press their latest criticisms of the new hospital was that society had been trying to organise a meeting with the Board to discuss these important issues, but to no avail, said Dr. Tomlinson.
"We have been trying to establish contact with the Board for two months. I wrote on 7 January asking for a meeting, and the Board ignored that letter. I faxed him (Ezzard Miller) on 4 February and still there was no reply.
"We had important information and we couldn't get a meeting with the Board so we sent copies of our critique to the Governor, members of the Board...We made every effort to contact the Board to discuss these issues because we want to settle behind the scenes.
"It is very sad that Mr. Miller should feel so threatened by us - he should take advantage of the professional expertise we are offering him. There is bitter antagonism on his part towards the doctors," said Dr. Tomlinson.
The meeting to which the CIMDS was invited last Thursday was a disappointment, he said. "The Board only asked us two questions, which were: is the document a consensus of the CIMDS council, and is it a consensus of the CIMDS general body? We replied 'Yes, unanimously' to both questions.
"The Medical Advisory Council was also summoned to that meeting, and was told that all doctors who work at the hospital will have to disassociatethemselves from the [CIMDS] document or face the consequences. They have been given a week to respond in writing.
"This kind of suppression of freedom can't end up in a good result," commented Dr. Tomlinson. "It is amazing that intellectuals have been treated in this fashion - all they want to do is give their professional viewpoint but they are bound by strict regulations. This is what happened to Dr. Kools [dismissed last year by the government for speaking to the press]. The doctors are disgusted [about what's going on]. There is talk of a go-slow at the hospital." from page 1 Dr. Tomlinson stressed that the CIMDS "had no selfish reasons" for discouraging the government from building the proposed hospital. "The accusation that we are trying to be political is not true. One of the stated aims of our society is to comment on issues that are important to our patients and the community - it is a duty, not political manoeuvring.
"The Health Authority, as a crown corporation, must break even the government is not meant to be permanently subsidising it. Their prices will have to be more competitive; they will have to be more efficient. The Health Authority Board has a major task in front of it."
Dr. Tomlinson noted that his comments about the new government hospital not being financially viable at present would still stand even if the Professional Medical Centre did not build their proposed private hospital. (Building may start at the end of this year.) "It is not a race between 'us' and 'them'," he stated. "In fact, certainly in the short term, it would be to my economic advantage to use the government's new hospital rather than raising and investing capital in our own hospital, with all the obvious risks..."
Commenting on the CIMDS' "critical evaluation" of the government's proposed plans for the health service published in Monday's Caymanian Compass, Mr. Ezzard Miller said he had not held a meeting with the CIMDS this year because he had had many other things to do. He pointed out he had held lengthy meetings with the CIMDS in October and November last year. He commented the Board had not felt inclined to meet the CIMDS after it had publicly criticised the Board through the media. "I am only the chairman of the Board," he noted, "and cannot dictate what it does or doesn't do."
Referring to the question of the financial viability of the new hospital, Mr. Miller stressed that fees would be low because of the building's design and management efficiencies. The new hospital will only be aiming to make enough money to cover costs, and therefore its fees are bound to be lower than those of the proposed new Medical Centre hospital, as it will be trying to make a profit, he said. He pointed out that fees to visit to a private practitioner on the islands is in most cases nearly double that of visiting a government GP.
Mr. Miller also noted that ExCo member Mr. Linford Pierson had given a draft copy of the "receipts and expenditures of the Health Service Authority from 1993-2001" to Dr. Tomlinson with the understanding that he would get back to Mr. Pierson with his comments, rather than using the report as a stick with which to beat the new hospital, said Mr. Miller.
He noted that he "had no reason to take on the CIMDS" and had "never criticised the society publicly until they went public" last October.
"If they want to play politicians, I can play politics with the best of them - I was trying to deal with professionals in a professional, not political, manner," he said.
A letter from Dr. Tomlinson dated 2 March requesting a meeting between the CIMDS and the Board has elicited a reply. Mr. Miller informs Dr. Tomlinson that "the request will be considered on 12 March", at the Board's next meeting.
