Can residents expect Peebles Hospital to be adequately staffed at all times?
We fear they can’t be sure, because the BVI Health Services Authority has remained tight-lipped after reports of a doctors’ “sickout” surfaced online last month.
Though at least one media outlet later reported that the BVIHSA made progress negotiating with disgruntled doctors over salaries and working hours, the statutory body has released no public statement on the matter and its leaders have not returned calls from this newspaper.
This silence is troubling, especially since this is not the first time the agency has failed to keep the community adequately informed about matters of pressing public interest.
A doctor sickout is no laughing matter. For obvious reasons, any industrial action by medical personnel could seriously limit the level of medical care available in the territory. Moreover, it could be illegal, as the Labour Code prohibits an organised strike in “essential services”including health care.
The recent reports, then, raise questions. Did a sickout in fact occur? Did it qualify as a strike? How was it resolved? Were measures put in place to ensure that it doesn’t happen again? Have any doctors been accused of violating the Labour Code? And so on.
BVIHSA officials should have provided answers by now. Unfortunately, their handling of the alleged sickout was not out of keeping with their response to at least one other recent crisis. To date, for example, the agency has not disclosed the results of an investigation into the June 20 death of Valda Stewart, who allegedly died of a pulmonary embolism after waiting for more than three hours for emergency care at Peebles. Even Ms. Stewart’s family claims to have been kept in the dark.
Instead of working closely with journalists, BVIHSA officials have at times lashed out at the media, accusing it of sensationalising problems at the hospital. They have a valid point: Though the Beacon does its best to provide balanced coverage at all times, we naturally cannot speak for other media outlets, and irresponsible journalism is a growing problem in the territory.
That said, however, the best way for the BVIHSA — or any other public agency — to avoid mudslinging is to adopt a policy of transparency. When officials clam up in a crisis, they open the door for speculation and add fuel to the fire of sensationalism.
Moving forward, the BVIHSA should do better, starting by opening up about the recent allegations of a sickout.
The new Peebles Hospital is a landmark for the Virgin Islands, but it is still very much a work in progress. Thus, we firmly believe that most residents would be sympathetic to any growing pains that are properly explained to the public. But when they are kept in the dark about crucial services funded by their tax dollars, they are sure to grow resentful, and quickly.
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