Eulalee Thompson, Senior Staff Reporter
REGIONAL DOCTORS who were not trained in medical schools sanctioned by the Caribbean Association of Medical Councils will now be required to sit a new examination to meet requirements for registration.
Dr. Trevor McCartney, chairman of the Caribbean Association of Medical Councils, said that the new regional examination was being imposed on doctors trained in 'non-traditional' medical schools as part of the preparation by the regional medical community for the proposed Caribbean Single Market Economy (CSME).
'Non-traditional' schools are those not considered as 'traditional' schools. Regional medical councils define traditional schools as faculties of the University of the West Indies, medical schools in Canada and the United States and medical schools recognised by the General Medical Council (GMC) of the United Kingdom up to 2003 when the GMC withdrew its accreditation of Commonwealth medical programmes.
REGISTRATION
"One of the things we have to look at is the standardisation of registration. This demands that there is one standard accepted by all 17 island nations... (the examination) will determine (the doctors') clinical and academic prowess and thus their suitability to practise independently and we emphasise the word, independently," Dr. McCartney said.
Once the proposed CSME comes into force, the "portability of registration" around the Caribbean will be critical for medical doctors to be able to move from territory to territory without being prevented from practising. So critical is this issue of standardisation of registration that Dr. McCartney said that it will be at the top of the agenda when the delegates of the Caribbean Association of Medical Councils hold their annual general meeting in Kingston, next Thursday to Saturday (November 11-13).
Changes to requirements for the registration of local doctors were recently made with the passing of a Bill amending the Medical Act. Doctors are now required to show evidence of 10 hours of continuing medical education (CME) as a prerequisite for the issuing of a practising certificate.
CME REQUIREMENTS
Dr. McCartney who is also the newly-appointed chairman of the local medical council, the Medical Council of Jamaica, said that various sub-specialties in medicine have been advocating, for at least 10 years, for the CME requirements.
"The Council thought that CME activities were important enough to ensure that our doctors keep abreast of development in medicine... and now that we have the legislation in place to make the CME mandatory we now need to move forward to keep Jamaica in the forefront of health care," he said.
The Council mediates the relationship between patients and doctors and maintain standards of discipline, ethics and practice in the profession. It accepts complaints in writing from the public about doctors, and processes an average of six complaints at its monthly meetings.
Other issues which are on the new chairman's agenda are the functioning of subcommittees to maintain standards in the medical profession and monitoring of profession for 'impaired' physicians.
"The Council is intending to be vigilant that any impairment is treated early to avoid catastrophes. We need to look after the welfare of the doctors to ensure that they are able to offer the best care to their patients; we need to assist members of the profession who may be impaired," he said.
