MAKE SURE YOUR doctor is registered or you may not be paid any sickness benefit claim.
That is the National Insurance Department’s message to Barbadians after declining to complete the processing of a number of sickness benefits because the agency claims the doctors who treated the individuals may not be registered.
The matter came to the fore when a victim in the fatal accident which occurred in Eagle Hall, St Michael, on January 9 complained that he had not received any payments from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). When he called to find out the reason for the delay, he was told the doctor was not registered.
The man explained that his sickness claim was signed by a doctor from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) as a result of the early morning accident between a minibus and a Transport Board bus, which triggered a mass casualty situation as 32 others were injured. “I used to pay NIS every week and now I need my money I can’t get it,” the distraught man told the SUNDAY SUN yesterday.
“I still have bills to pay. I still have my son to support,” he said, adding that he was now living off of his savings.
Derek Lowe, the NIS’s research and marketing officer, confirmed the NIS always sought to ensure the doctor who the person went to was registered before it was processed.
He explained the NIS received their information on which doctors are registered from a list provided by the Barbados Medical Council. But he could shed no light on how many claims may be held up because of this situation.
However, when contacted, Dr Dexter James, the QEH’s chief executive officer, said all doctors operating there are registered and does not know what was informing the NIS’s position.
