News

Surgeons unhappy with contracts

July 24, 2012 7:43 pm

Major operations at the Suva Private Hospital have been compromised due to payment issues between specialist doctors and the management of the Suva Private Hospital.

FBC News has established that surgeons are only willing to carry out emergency procedures until their contracts have been sorted out.

Maca Lutunauga has the story.

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The specialists are not happy with some of the clauses in their contracts.

It’s alleged that contracts were drawn up by the management and handed to the doctors to sign…without any prior discussions on pay and other matters.

The doctors then decided they won’t carry out elective surgeries.

Only life threatening cases will be seen to because hospitals and doctors are included in the Essential Services Decree.

There have been a few cases where patients booked for surgeries have been told to re-schedule without any reasons given.

The doctors claim management of the Suva Private hospital have been avoiding the issue, making excuses to not meet.

However Suva private Hospital General Manager Tevita Qumivutia says otherwise.

Qumivutia says they are in negotiations with some of the specialists and as the matter is a confidential commercial contract – management cannot reveal the specific clauses that need clarification.

He says, like all hospitals, they are reliant on specialists for specific procedures and as they are negotiating the contracts with some of the specialists, such services are being referred to other medical providers.