BAMP, hospital still to talk

AS it relates to the current impasse between the Barbados Association of Medical Practioners (BAMP) and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), mum’s the word.The two parties have been urged by Minister of Health Donville Inniss to return to talks, but up to Press time yesterday, no light appeared at the end of the tunnel.“There is absolutely nothing I can tell you,” BAMP’s public relations officer Dr Ermine Belle told the SUNDAY SUN when asked if the two parties were talking again.However, according to a source, the situation is at a very “delicate” stage.The source said the BAMP council met on Friday with the executive of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations (CTUSAB) and requested their assistance, but CTUSAB promised to intervene only if necessary. Instead, the BAMP council was advised to go back to the bargaining table one more time.When contacted yesterday, CTUSAB general secretary Dennis Depeiza said they were not part of the process.  “That situation is at a level where the matter is being handled by the two parties,” he said.Members of BAMP withdrew their services from all health institutions last week, upset with a decision by the board of the QEH not to renew the contracts of radiologist Dr Cecil Rambarat and urologist Dr Jerry Emtage.But the QEH said they would not negotiate unless BAMP ended their industrial action. The industrial action was suspended, but talks have since broken down. (BA)