Of course, the confirmed cases H1N1 are only the flavour “du jour” in a health system that’s confronting various maladies – not least of which is the KHMH stalemate. Luckily, it was business as usual at the KHMH today – but the labour and administrative dispute is still entrenched. However, there is a small development to report tonight on the ongoing deadlock between the KHMH Board and its doctors. 7News has confirmed that today the doctors met with Senator Godwin Hulse. The doctors discussed with Senator Hulse the possibility of nominating him to represent their interest in future negotiations. Before that became known, this morning Prime Minister Dean Barrow told us that he has urged both sides to attempt another round of mediation and he even offered to assist. He also made it clear though that his patience has run thin.
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
“And I certainly am prepared to try to intervene to see if I can help to force a resolution but ultimately if all that fails, we go, I would think, it is a matter for the Minister of Labour but I don’t see how we will avoid going to binding arbitration.”
Keith Swift,
Do you think the doctors are somewhat being unreasonable when you consider that they walked away from the last mediation attempts?
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“I absolutely think so and I am not going to withdraw from that position. At the start I had a great deal of sympathy for the doctors, I made that clear, and number, every single one of their initial demand was met except for their insistence that Dr. Fabro be fired without due process. They keep moving the goal posts and even the additional demands, as I understand it, have been to a large extent been met by the Board. The fact that they nevertheless simply walk away from the process and will engage in the kind of industrial action that sees them in my view, violate their duty of care to patients is something of which I certainly cannot approve.”
The idea to nominate Hulse as a facilitator for the union will have to be approved by Labour Commissioner Ivan Williams but more importantly, also by the board.
