Junior doctors not with BAMP

THE NATIONAL UNION OF PUBLIC WORKERS (NUPW) has made it clear junior doctors are not backing strike action organised by the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) over the sacking of consultant Dr Cecil Rambarat.NUPW general secretary Denis Clarke on Monday notified health administrators at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) that his union was the bargaining agent for junior doctors and they were “not involved in the current impasse between yourself and the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners”.However, Clarke stressed that the union would like health officials to acknowledge that the work of junior doctors was “limited by the authority” of the consultants. Clarke added junior doctors had to operate within those constraints. He suggested the QEH administration meet with the union to discuss and have a better appreciation of the “predicament” faced by the junior doctors.BAMP has stepped up protest action, withdrawing members’ services from the QEH, polyclinics, district hospitals, Geriatric Hospital and Psychiatric Hospital. Only emergency cases have been receiving attention.The QEH sacked Rambarat last week. This followed complaints from some BAMP members over his refusal to work at night when officially on-call, despite being paid related allowances. BAMP members also expressed concerns over the tardiness of getting X-ray reports from the Department of Radiology, headed by Rambarat.Head of the Accident & Emergency Department, Dr Chaynie Williams, as well as head of the Department of Orthopaedics, Dr Randy Carrington, both complained that the lack of timeliness by Rambarat’s department had been affecting patient care.QEH board chairman Guy Hewitt has stressed that management is attempting to make the hospital more centred on the care of its patients.