By Roy Sanford, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE WESTERN Regional Health Authority (WRHA) has terminated the services of eight interns at the Cornwall Regional Hospital, Montego Bay, St. James.
The eight are 'student locum interns', who, according to the WRHA, are medical students who have been trained abroad but have not yet passed their qualifying Jamaican Board Examination that would put them in the category of junior doctors.
But, according to the Practical Nurses' Association of Jamaica, the move is going to have 'disastrous consequences' on the poor who have no access to private health care.
"The poor are already suffering from a shortage of medical personnel which has resulted in the rescheduling of appointments for persons who are gravely ill," Neville Atkinson, public relations officer for the association, stated in a news release.
ADDITIONAL STRESS
"As a consequence it will put additional stress on the already overworked doctors and other employees in the hospital."
In a news release last week, Gordon Brown, chairman of the WRHA, said the termination of the interns was taken because of the need to curtail expenditure and to be able to satisfy the WRHA's 2003/04 budget.
Mr. Brown stated that while there was no obligation to have the interns on staff at the hospital, the WRHA had facilitated them so they could get the necessary job experience to help them prepare for their examinations.
He said the interns had been offered the opportunity to continue serving as volunteers until they sit their exams.
Mr. Atkinson said that while his organisation was aware of the budget deficit and the need to cut cost, every effort must be made to avoid sending home medical personnel.
Clinton Pickering, public relations officer for the Cornwall Regional Hospital, said the termination of the interns would have no adverse effect on the operations of the hospital.
