Tufton: Minimum standards process must be in place for doctor-interns
Published:Monday | October 13, 2025 | 12:06 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says that doctor-interns who were trained overseas are not being deliberately overlooked for placement in Jamaica’s hospital system, but that a process must be in place to ensure they meet the local standards of healthcare provision.
Addressing a press conference at S Hotel in Montego Bay, St James last Thursday, Tufton made reference to several recent publications where doctors who were trained in China complained about being unable to secure internships at hospitals in Jamaica despite having made multiple applications.
“We are not trying to block any interns, and we are not suggesting that any intern does not qualify. We are just making sure that when that intern transitions to becoming a full-fledged doctor, a Jamaican patient or any other patient can be reassured that the quality of that individual and their capacity to treat them is guaranteed within minimal margins of risk. And to do that, we have to establish some standards,” said Tufton.
“I see the articles that have been written and the statements about them [internship applicants] feeling ignored and left out. That is not the case, but I do believe we have an obligation to make it very clear, so that even those who are going away to study will understand that if they take that option, chances are, when they return, they may have to wait a year or two before they get into the system,” Tufton continued. “We give priority to our local doctors but, after that, it is a matter of how much space is available.”
In September, the disgruntled Jamaican doctor-interns alleged that, after doing six years of training in China – that started in 2019 and ended with their graduation in April this year – 30 of them applied for internships at several hospitals across Jamaica.
However, they were reportedly given rejection letters in August, one month after the projected period when they should have got responses.
The doctors also alleged that, during a July 21, 2025 meeting with Dr Colette Myrie, the acting director in charge of the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ Health Planning and Integration Services Branch at the time, they were told that the ministry would be enforcing certain protocols to include the exclusion of candidates from institutions not accredited by the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions.
They insisted that they were never told about that policy at the time when they submitted their applications.
However, Tufton told Thursday’s press briefing that some aspiring Jamaican doctors are seeking training at overseas universities where it is difficult for the Jamaican health authorities to determine if those institutions meet Jamaica’s standards for training.
“What has happened is that, over the years, more Jamaicans are being trained outside of Jamaica at universities across the world, and some of the universities we know very little about.
“There is no registry that certifies whether they are a Type A or Type B facility or an advanced university, and then the students, having been trained, would like to be placed in a hospital in Jamaica for internship,” said Tufton.
“There needs to be a process that determines their minimum developed standards, and then they have to be placed in a system where they have all the requirements to get a final approval to practise as a doctor,” Tufton added.
“In addition to that, we have to give our local trainees at the university priority, so if we have 500 spaces and we have 700 applicants, we take the 200 who are out of university, we offer 300 spaces to the others, and then 200 have to wait another year.”
The issue arose several months after Tufton indicated in The Sunday Gleaner on May 18 that Jamaica needs approximately 500 doctors across a range of specialist areas over a three-to five-year period for the first phase of implementation of the ministry’s Secondary Care Model.
EARLIER RESPONSE
In an earlier response to the doctor-interns’ complaints, published in The Gleaner on September 22, Jamaica’s chief medical officer, Dr Jacqueline Bisasor-McKenzie, said that the local internship programme is oversubscribed, with 500 applications having been received this year and 250 interns being placed on the programme in the last three years.