Medical doctors amplify call for IDT to rule on matter of overtime payments by staging peaceful protest yesterday

September 22, 2026

The Jamaica Medical Doctors’ Association (JMDA) has amplified its call for the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) to rule on the matter of overtime payments and the implementation of allowances due to doctors.

This as several members gathered yesterday in the vicinity of the IDT’s office in a peaceful protest to highlight their grouse.

The doctors are becoming increasingly restive over the protracted delay by the IDT in settling the matter.

JMDA President, Dr. Jubilee Brown-Service said medical doctors can no longer bear the frustration caused by the delay.

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Dr. Brown-Service said she cannot comment on whether the doctors will take further action at this time.

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In a statement issued in August, the JMDA said it concluded its case against the Government before the IDT on April 1, and is yet to receive the tribunal’s decisions.

The Association said then that doctors are mandated to work overtime in order to maintain essential services throughout the public health system.

However, the compensation they currently receive remains based on a contract that expired in 2021.

The Association lamented that the rates and conditions governing this compulsory overtime have not been updated.

The JMDA noted that the dispute also concerns the unilateral denial by the Finance Ministry, since 2023, of an allowance to more than 700 doctors.