A GROUP OF OVERWORKED SPECIALISTS
Last week, this very newspaper briefly described what we are going through since 1st August 2022, as specialists in Obstetrics&Gynaecology, Pediatrics and Anaeathesiology, based on the (in)famous 24/7 formula decided by the Ministry of Health and Wellness*, without any prior consultation or systematic assessment of the situation. The premise for this decision was to address the issue of “medical negligence” that the public health sector has been accused of, especially in those departments. The FCSOU has rightly demanded a hiatus in the application of this measure until appropriate conditions have been fulfilled mainly in terms of work conditions and remuneration. While we, as medical professionals strongly agree to any improvement of the system, of which our whole sector is in dire need, we cannot, in all integrity, accept the willy-nilly conditions in which the supposed reforms are taking place.
In the first place, we work for 55 hours per week, for even if we are on call and the night is rather quiet, every minute spent at the workplace is considered as part of a working hour. When we are on call for weekends, or in cases of lack of personnel and us find ourselves having to cover for colleagues, we end up with a working week of nearly 80 hours, most of them on our feet. In our respective fields, remaining alert is sine qua non. But with the current working conditions, we are being deprived of the very basic necessity that our jobs require. We are fully committed to giving our patients the best care but when we are overworked, we are bound, as humans, to falter, though we try our best not to. In fact, this decision is just shifting the burden on another time of the day. Now, there is a possibility that the doctor may be on site but is not able to deliver properly because s/he is overworked. According to experts in Personal Injury Law**, “overworked doctors are twice as likely to make medical mistakes that injure or kill their patients […] Doctors who are overwhelmed by their workload are likely to take shortcuts or miss important details, which could lead to medical errors and negligence.” This is a possibility that we do not even entertain.
Secondly, our working conditions are not conducive to us delivering to our optimum capacity. The ministry did not even carry out a survey beforehand to assess the amenities currently available to make sure that a certain level of comfort is given to doctors who will be staying the night in hospital. We are not requesting for 5-star service, but a comfortable bed, which is currently lacking, would at least be considered a minimum requirement. The most cynical among us do pose the question whether the doctors (whether at the head of the ministry or others involved in this decision) would have accepted such working conditions. Additionally, the proposed overtime payment we are receiving does not equate with the amount of work that is involved and can almost be considered as an insult to the number of years we have spent in study and improving our skills, just to be treated like junior doctors who are starting out. We believe that our expertise, our time and our capabilities as specialists qualify us for much better remunerations.
Thirdly, we are of the opinion that this is a very biased decision, once more taken as a political move, more than anything else. When the minister announced this decision, he based himself on some cases that have been covered in the media relating to alleged cases of medical negligence regarding mothers and babies. We would like to know if an actual survey has been carried out to assess the number of such cases that has warranted such a measure to be taken. And if so, if the ministry intends to carry out another survey in a few months to see how this decision has addressed the issue of supposed negligence, for it is only then that this decision would make sense. In any ministry headed by a competent and learned leader, and that respects itself, this is how things should be carried out.
We wonder if this measure will follow the fate of previous ones like the permission to fathers to assist their children’s deliveries or the administration of epidural during labour, both measures which were announced with great fanfare, but which flopped, without the public even knowing about it. We however believe that this 24/7 decision is mostly to help the minister raise himself on the popularity pole in front of the public, who may not have an inkling how things actually work beyond the Emergency Rooms and the wards. Would this decision be extended to other specialties in the months to come? Do we need to remind the ministry (minister) that, for example, a person coming with a major gastrointestinal bleed in the emergency room at night, requires as immediate care as a woman in labour and therefore requires the relevant specialist to also stay overnight in hospital?
Lastly, we would like to draw the attention on the impact that such a decision is having on our family lives. Most of our family members are used to the unsocial hours that our jobs entail. But this situation makes for another level of fragmentation. We are so tired that we are not able to cater for the emotional needs of our family members, shifting the burden on our spouses who have their own lot of responsibilities. A number of us have children of a young age or elderly parents who require care, time and attention. While we have always managed to take care of that, we are now facing undue stress, which makes the situation feel all the more unfair, for at this stage of our careers, we strongly believe that we are entitled to better work conditions. At a time where the government is urging people to have more children, many of us who have been considering plans to expand our own families are now forced to put such plans on the back burner or scrap them altogether.
We have never been and are not afraid of work, but we believe that appropriately respectful conditions should be offered to us. We do not wish to join the international trend of quiet-quitting nor do we want our public health system to be devoid of capable doctors. But should the ministry continue to turn a blind eye to our working conditions, many of us would rather quit public service to reclaim our lives. We fervently hope that our cries of the heart do not fall on deaf ears and that this situation is taken seriously and remediated correctly by the ministry.
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*Spécialistes: la FCSOU réclame le gel d’une formule injuste – Le Mauricien, Friday 2 September 2022.
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https://www.adlerltd.com/chicago-injury-lawyer/when-overworked-doctors-make-medical-mistakes
