Stop targeting local doctors – Medical Association to Govt

…blasts Public Health Ministry for its silence

…as “doctors on call” allowances now being taxed

… working under deplorable conditions

The Guyana Medical Association (GMA) has joined the voices calling on Government to reverse the measures it has taken against benefits medical doctors formerly enjoyed. In addition, the representative body wants the Public Health Ministry to urgently sit down with doctors and consult.

The Association lamented that doctors are being forced by the Government to join

the Public Service as pensionable public servants during their five years of service, as stipulated by their contract. The switch from gratuity, which the doctors once enjoyed, to pension, as currently obtains, was not preceded by consultations.

This newspaper was also told that doctors will now have their allowances for “on call” services taxed. According to the medical association in a recent statement, these allowances fall under overtime services.

“This betrayal of their reasonable expectations is unilateral, thus further compounding the sentiment of distrust and resentment that prevails among the affected young doctors”, the GMA has said, even as it has dispatched a memorandum to the Director of Medial and Professional Services (DMPS) of the Georgetown Public Hospital, and has copied same to that institution’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The memo informed the officials of the decision to tax the doctors’ allowances in

accordance with Section 7(1) of the Income Tax Act, Chapter 81:01. The allowance had always been treated as non-taxable, but, according to reports, a recent review has changed this position.

According to the association, there has been a breakdown in communication between the Government and the young doctors, who are in the process of fulfilling their contractual obligations. The GMA has made it clear that since the Government is yet to provide a reasonable explanation for these policy decisions, it would not be supporting the new policies.

“The GMA has maintained contact with the young doctors, many of whom are members of the Association.

They have informed the steering Committee of the recent woes that they are experiencing at the hands of the Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Public Health. These grievances have crystallized in the face of the recent ultimatum(s) declared by the Government, important among which is the provision of their monthly gratuity payment. The GMA will not support unconscionable and unilateral acts of the Ministry of Public Health in the absence of reasonable explanation, particularly by the authority, to the predicament of young doctors”, the GMA memo has detailed.

Deafening silence

Since it was first revealed that as of March 24, temporary workers and contract workers with a GS 3 to GS 14 salary scale (including doctors) would be switched from gratuity benefits to pension, the Public Health Ministry and Government officials have maintained a carefully guarded silence on the matter.

This fact has not gone unnoticed by the Medical Association, which noted that while the Public Health Ministry has remained silent, it is still adamant “in seeking to enforce their unilateral and oppressive measure.”

“The GMA remains steadfast in solidarity with the young doctors as they face an uphill battle that impinges on their means of survival”, that body has said.

The GMA is urging Government to withdraw its ultimatums and meet with representatives of the doctors to address mutual concerns in order to arrive at agreeable solutions. The body notes that this needs to be done as soon as possible.

While a pension is a contributory arrangement, gratuity is a sum of money paid at the end of a stipulated tenure of service, or upon retirement. In most cases, there is a prescribed formula for calculating gratuity, thus removing payments from the employer the onus of determining those payments.

Doctors were eligible, upon satisfactory service being provided, for gratuity at a rate of 22.5 per cent of their basic salary, calculated on the basis of three months. However, at one time, doctors could choose to receive their gratuity at six-month intervals.

It is common for such categories of workers to have a personal preference for gratuity instead of pension. <<Guyana Times>> understands that the move has left some doctors disillusioned and frustrated, as many had begun their training with gratuity enshrined in their contracts.

The Parliamentary Opposition has been critical of the move, stating that doctors were always allowed their gratuity in order to keep them incentivized. There are concerns that once doctors have completed their stipulated years of service, they will simply move to other jurisdictions with better compensation packages.

As if the yanking of the contractual benefits doctors enjoyed was not enough, this publication was able to view the condition of residential quarters provided for doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. It has been observed that the quarters where doctors who are on call have to sleep sometimes have gaping holes in the ceiling, and the overhead fans have their blades exposed. It is these doctors who will now have a chunk of their on-call allowances decimated.