New hospital chair urged to find locals working abroad

Territorial representative Archibald Christian has suggested that the new salary structure being implemented by the BVI Health Services Authority (BVIHSA) may help to pull natives of the Territory who are now practicing in the medical profession overseas.

Over the years, it had been said that those persons are reluctant to return home to practice because they earn much higher salaries in countries like the United States.

Christian, during a recent sitting of the House of Assembly, urged recently appointed chairperson of the BVIHSA Ayana Glasgow-Liburd to intensify the recruitment of BVI natives living abroad.

The lawmaker also urged the BVIHSA to now become more vigilant when hiring persons to serve in the Territory’s public health facilities, which are all managed by the Authority.

“I am begging and I am pleading with you [Glasgow-Liburd] to pay close attention to the persons that we are hiring. I have absolutely no problems with anyone seeking employment in my country if I have nobody in my country that can fill that position…”

“I am looking forward over the tenure of Mrs Liburd when she can spread her wings overseas and find those BVIslanders and belongers in the medical profession that want to come back home. I think we read the other day some good news where the salaries have been adjusted across the board for all the persons working in the medical field,” Christian further noted in the House of Assembly.

Details of the BVIHSA’s new compensation package for medical staff are yet to be made available to the press.

The decision to implement the new structure followed a protest that the BVI Medical Doctors Association staged at Peebles Hospital in February.