Young doctors want meeting with gov’t over on-call allowances tax, scrapping of contracts

Recent Cuba-trained doctors taking the Hippocratic Oath last year at their graduation ceremony at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre

Already dissatisfied with the scrapping of a five-year contract they had with government, young doctors are now bemoaning the removal of their tax-free allowance for working on-call and they want government to meet and discuss the issues with them.

“We don’t want much from government because we love our jobs but how could they unilaterally decide to scrap the agreement and put us on another system? Could they not meet with us? Our views don’t count for something?” one dissatisfied young doctor, who did not want to be named, vented.

“Practically speaking, $1 now is worth more than $1 when I am 55 [years old] so I feel the gratuity system worked for young professionals like myself, where I was able to purchase things and start building my family even as I saved independently for my old age,” the doctor added.

The doctors’ call for a meeting with government comes on heels of a statement from the Guyana Medical Association (GMA) that strongly criticised the taxation and accused government of breaching its contract with the doctors.