The Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA) says it will convene a meeting of its members next week to determine its next steps after its 24 hour industrial action ended on Saturday morning and operations returned to normal in the public health sector.
The withdrawal of services began at eight o’clock Friday morning and ended at 8:00 a.m., Saturday.
It was done in protest against the prolonged delay by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) in ruling on the doctors’ dispute with the government in relation to overtime payments and related matters.
The doctors had threatened to take action if the IDT failed to deliver its ruling by Friday, despite the Tribunal indicating that it could not meet the deadline and requesting more time.
JMDA President Dr Jubilee Brown Service declared on Friday evening that the objective of the protest, which caused major disruptions islandwide, was met.
“We believe that we’ve sent a very clear statement that we are not going to tolerate the exploitation any longer.,” she told Beyond the Headlines host Dionne Jackson Miller.
“We’ll convene with our members early next week to determine what the next steps will be if there remains no response from the IDT,” she added.
In a follow-up statement, issued on Saturday morning, Dr Brown Service said the duration of normal operations remains in the hands of the Industrial Disputes Tribunal and warned that any further delay will lead to more disruptions.
On Friday, Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said Regional Health Authorities, which oversee the management of the country’s health centres and hospitals, reported no adverse events at the facilities.
He said the health facilities entered emergency mode and prioritised patients presenting with life-threatening and other serious medical emergencies and patients already admitted to hospital, including in intensive care units.