Senior doctors manning hospitals as JMDA members stay off the job; only emergency services being offered

October 2, 2026

Junior medical doctors across the island have taken industrial action affecting services at some hospitals.

It comes as the Jamaica Medical Doctors’ Association (JMDA) escalates its pressure on the Industrial Disputes Tribunal to hand down the long-awaited ruling on doctors’ overtime rates.

Doctors will only provide emergency services from 8 a.m. today to 8 a.m. tomorrow.

In Manchester, more than 100 junior doctors stayed off the job at the Mandeville Regional Hospital.

Senior Medical Officer at the hospital, Dr. Everton McIntosh says over 20 consultants are now manning the facility which has 315 patients admitted.

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He says outpatient services have been suspended for the day, while elective surgeries have been postponed. 

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Dr. McIntosh explains that in order to reduce workloads on the limited number of doctors available, some patients have been discharged. 

He’s hoping that normalcy returns to the hospital for the weekend. 

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In the meantime, the North East Regional Health Authority (NERHA) is reporting that its health facilities have been affected by the action taken by medical doctors. 

NERHA covers St. Ann, St. Mary and Portland.

In a statement, NERHA says all hospitals in the region are operating under emergency mode. 

This means that normal services are disrupted, including outpatient clinics, routine appointments and non-emergency procedures. 

Accident and emergency departments at hospitals within the region will only be opened for emergency and life-saving operations. 

Operations at major health centres in the region are also impacted, with only urgent and other limited services such as vaccination being offered. 

One medical doctor will be present at these major health centres. 

Meanwhile, NERHA says the St. Ann’s Bay regional hospital is operating with 12%  of its medical staff capacity. 

Meanwhile, Clinical Coordinator for the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), Dr. Delroy Fray says contingency plans were put in place long before the strike commenced. 

He says senior doctors have been rostered to assist and he says these plans are working well. 

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