Nationwide News understands that St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital is operating at 12 per cent of staffing capacity on Friday, due to industrial action by some medical doctors.
Our sources say all public hospitals across the north eastern region of the island have been similarly impacted.
The other hospitals in the region, to include Port Antonio, Port Maria and Annotto Bay, are operating in emergency mode.
This, as junior doctors have largely withdrawn their services from public health facilities for the next 24 hours.
The Jamaica Medical Doctors Association, JMDA, said it could not guarantee normalcy in the delivery of health services from 8 am Friday to 8 am Saturday.
The action is in relation to a delay in a ruling by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal on their long-running overtime dispute with the government.
This means normal services have been disrupted and all out-patient clinics have been cancelled. Routine appointments and non-urgent procedures have also been cancelled.
However, it’s understood all accident and emergency departments across NERHA are functioning.
Nationwide sources say hospitals across the region are actively rescheduling cancelled appointments.
And at St Ann’s Bay Hospital, Senior Medical Officer Dr Tanya Hamilton Johnson says 100 patients with appointments are being rescheduled.
Dr Tanya Hamilton Johnson, senior medical officer at St Anns Bay Hospital.
