Health Minister calls on NLMA to act responsibly

"The NLMA must be responsible and stop asking doctors to withdraw from emergency rooms across the province," said Gerald Smith, Minister of Health and Community Services.

The planned job action of the provincial doctors, to start on October 1, includes the cancellation of replacement doctors, called locums, in emergency rooms across the province. Locums occur when replacement doctors are needed during brief shortages or absences of doctors in a hospital.

A majority of emergency rooms in the province scheduled locums for one or more shifts during October, and many of these doctors have now canceled their shifts at the urging of the NLMA. The result will be that emergency rooms will close during these shifts.

"The NLMA created a false sense of comfort when they told the public that emergency rooms would be staffed at current levels," said Minister Smith. "In reality, however, they are telling their members to cancel locum commitments and thereby shut down emergency rooms, even in rural and remote areas."

The standard being set by the NLMA is irresponsible compared to public sector unions. During last year�s public service strike, all unions acted with great care to make sure essential workers were in place before the strike started.

Instead, the NLMA is leaning heavily on their members to dismantle the most essential service we have in the province. In a letter to NLMA members on September 26, the Association asked doctors to strongly encourage their colleagues providing emergency room locums to withdraw their service. In addition, they said, "if a physician is reluctant to withdraw his or her locum, let us know at NLMA House, and we will make contact with that individual and press our case." Realizing the devastating impact on emergency services, the letter further states that, "the impact of this withdrawal will be extremely significant."

The minister called on the NLMA to immediately ask members to renew their emergency room work commitments. "This is no different than essential services provided by other public sector groups. I also call on individual doctors to honour their professional code and provide this emergency room service."

Hospital boards across the province continue to do contingency planning in the event of a job action. Minister Smith also reiterated that negotiations are continuing to avert the need for a job action.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Minister Smith will be available to discuss this matter with the media at 12:30 p.m. today in the Media Centre, Ground Floor, East Block, Confederation Building.

Media Contact: Diane Keough, 729-1377

2002 09 27                                       11:55 a.m.