Jamaican Doctors and their Growing Frustration

Long hours and low pay are some of the issues medical Doctors are facing at this time, President of the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association Dr. Mindi Fitz-henley says this is causing growing frustration among some of her colleagues.

The average salary for interns, senior house officers and medical officers, is lower than $200,000.00 per month. These medical Doctors are often working for 40 hours per week and covid-19 has caused these hours to be extended.

The situation is worse for the Doctors who work in the primary care settings and don’t have an additional source of income.

It is alleged that the deductions from their salaries are not being paid over to the banks.

There are persons who are in arrears with their car payments and mortgages because of this. They also complain about finding it hard to finance their student loan payments and the cost to purchase equipment.

The hazard payment promised to them by the Government at the beginning of the pandemic in February 2020 is needed. It is not much but it could help to alleviate their stress. Annotto-Bay was mentioned as one location that was having a hard time because of the lack of payments.

The association wrote to the Ministry of Finance about the issue and now they are waiting on a response.