THE SPANISH Town Hospital in St Catherine could be plunged into a crisis this weekend if urgent action is not taken by the authorities.

A number of doctors at the institution, whose contracts expire on December 31, have indicated that they will not be on the job come January 1 unless they have signed new contracts.

There are fears that if this matter is not addressed speedily, members of the public who turn up at the hospital for treatment this weekend might experience inordinately long delays due to inadequate medical personnel.

One medical doctor at the institution who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Gleaner that the new contracts should have been signed yesterday.

Hr director out

He said when doctors at the hospital called the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), they were told that a director who was responsible for facilitating the contract signing did not show up at work and would be out for the remainder of the week.

Checks with SERHA confirmed that the director of human resources management and industrial relations was out of office and was doubtful for the rest of the week.

The doctor stressed that he and his colleagues could not carry out their duties on January 1 without a new contract.

Last night, telephone numbers for Minister of Health Rudyard Spencer rang without an answer and it was not clear whether the concerns at Spanish Town reflected a larger-scale problem nationwide.

Another source told The Gleaner that the hospital has already been facing challenges with an inadequate number of medical personnel to attend to patients. Further, the source cautioned that the institution could face a crisis if there were emergencies and not enough doctors to treat patients at the hospital this weekend.

Efforts by The Gleaner to get information from SERHA about the proposed contracts to be signed by the doctors were unsuccessful. A manager at SERHA, Kadeen Madden Bennett, said she could not comment on the matter.

Despite giving the assurance that senior personnel at SERHA would respond to the issue yesterday, no one returned calls to provide an explanation.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com