Premier Danny Williams says inflammatory rhetoric from doctors has to stop.
Flanked by his finance and health ministers, he met with reporters Wednesday afternoon to respond to a comment made by the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association’s president during an interview after doctors met Tuesday night.
He quoted Dr. Patrick O’Shea as saying, “I think the public have to decide who they trust more, who they believe is telling the truth and what they can face in the future if one side or the other wins.”
Williams called it a serious situation when the medical association president is trying to pit physicians against the government on the basis of truth and winning.
“Things are getting out of hand. This can basically lead to anarchy, this kind of stuff,” he said.
Doctors and the province have been at odds over physician pay for months. The premier said it’s not about winning or losing for the government, that no one wins if there’s a protracted dispute.
He added the province is trying to spend health dollars wisely and there’s nothing personal against physicians.
“We’re not interested in pursuing this kind of a dialogue. We’re not interested in talking about trusting doctors. We all trust doctors. We all trust our own doctors, and any other doctors our families come in contact with. When it comes to people telling the truth, all we do is state the facts as they are.”
The government has been stating the medical association knew an wage agreement reached with pathologists and oncologists in 2008 was a one-off deal that wouldn’t be extended to all doctors.
On Monday, radiation oncologist Pradip Ganguly said he heard Rob Ritter, the association’s executive director, give the premier his word during a 2008 meeting that the deal wouldn’t be a precedent.
Ritter denied that Tuesday morning. O’Shea’s comments followed that evening.
“I don’t know if I’ve been accused of being a liar before, I don’t think so,” Williams said. “All I can say is I was in the room, as were 30-odd other people. Dr. Ganguly was in the room and what Dr. Ganguly is saying is accurate. That’s the best way I can put it.”
It was put to Williams that doctors might consider some of government’s actions inflammatory, such as the release of a specialist’s salary and the fact that doctor had taken on extra duties (tasks of which she’s been relieved).
He replied there’s been no intent to inflame anyone, that doctors’ salaries are readily available and, if a physician takes on extra work for extra pay, it’s a relevant detail.
Asked if it were time he met with O’Shea, Williams said he can’t respond to “somebody with this kind of an attitude” and that the doctors were constantly changing the ground rules.
The premier said the province has done what it can with its $81 million offer, and it can’t just give into physicians’ demands because they might reject what’s on the table and withdraw services.
“That’s not what we’re elected to do,” he said.
Contacted following Williams’ media scrum, the medical association said it was reserving comment.
The opposition Liberals were quick to respond, however.
Acting leader Kelvin Parsons said in a release the premier still hasn’t realized his approach with doctors isn’t working.
“It’s hard to believe that after 23 months of failed talks and a frustration level inside the medical profession that is leading to mass resignations that Premier Danny Williams still doesn’t realize that bullying the doctors is preventing a settlement,” he said. “The thousands of people who are dependent upon the doctors are tired of this brinksmanship approach and deserve better.”
He also wondered if Williams was suggesting physicians can’t be overworked for taking on extra roles.
“Is the premier suggesting that the several hundred members of Memorial University’s Faculty of Medicine give up their teaching posts or resign their clinical duties because they shouldn’t be performing both roles?” Parsons asked. “Because if that is the case, we’ll have that many more doctors to recruit to fill those positions.”
sbartlett@thetelegram.com
Twitter: @bartlett_steve
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Damn straight things are getting out of hand. The biggest reason for this is the government and their style of what they call collective bargaining. The public sector first experienced it when this government was first elected,can anyone say " until the cows come home ".This leader as good as he is for the province is a bully, he has no ability to negotiate as things have to be his way or his way.How many times have we seen him take his ball and go home.How many times have we heard him publically speak attacking anyone who does not follow his train of thought.As a group of the third highest paid provincial politicians in all of Canada and the highest paid in Atlantic Canada ,I cannot understand why they cannot see the problems within the system,the biggest one being recruitment.Recruitment problems are because of higher than average workloads,an unsupportive employer and lower wages than most places across Canada.I am a healthcare worker and I can see it everyday,the whole system is ready to implode upon itself.It has to be fixed and one way would be to pay parity.If a person works for Needs and is getting 12 dollars an hour they would think hard about going to Maries for 10 even if the conditions are so much better.Wake up Danny,save the province once again and be the hero. There is only so many people that can be and will be fooled by all this political BS that is spewing from the politicians,listen to the radio at them as they call the open line shows,they sound like fools.If money is the real problem why are the administration cost so high,why is the amount of dollars being paid out in overtime so high.A school kid could figure out that if you have to pay someone double to cover one shift wouldn't it be better to have two employees one to cover shift one to cover an employees day off.I myself would be very interested in seeing a comparision between actual payroll and overtime payroll paid out at my place of employment,hmmmm maybe a good job for John Noseworthy,hey what happened to him?He should do a forensic audit of Eastern Health.