Senior doctors pick up the slack in western region

ST JAMES, Jamaica — Clinical Coordinator for the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), Dr Delroy Fray, is seeking to reassure the public that contingency measures are in place to minimise any disruption caused by industrial action taken by doctors. The doctors are protesting what they say is the slow pace of the review process by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) to hand down a ruling as it relates to overtime payments. "We've made contingency plans so that our urgent and emergency cases will not be compromised in any way," Fray told Observer Online on Friday morning. "We knew what would happen today so yesterday was a planning day for us and the plan was to have our senior doctors cover the gaps," he said. The Western Region has four major health care facilities which includes the Cornwall Regional Hospital and Fray said that since 8:00am on Friday, the senior doctors have taken action. However, he said that they are managing based on the plans put in place. "I have checked in the morning and we are moving along that line very well. I am going to be monitoring that every four hours to see what the flow is like and how we are coping," he said. "Based on the plans I have in place for all the four hospitals, I'm not worried, I think we should be alright and the fact that it is just 24 hours, I think we can manage," he added. It was reported that the Noel Holmes hospital in Lucea currently has five doctors on staff which would have normally been nine.