Letter to the Editor
No Discrimination against Caymanians
Dear Sir,
I would appreciate the opportunityto respond to a letter from Darley O. Solomon, Snr., which appearedin your November 3, edition of your newspaper. Mr. Solomon's letterand the title given to it, presumably by Cayman Net News, mightsuggest to some people that the Cayman Islands Health ServicesDepartment does not encourage the employment of qualified Caymaniansin the various fields of health care.
This is definitely not the case. The Department welcomes the opportunityto employ returning qualified Caymanians in all areas of healthcare, including medicine and nursing. Indeed, every post whichis filled by an overseas contracted officer is advertised locallybefore efforts are made to recruit from other parts of the world.
In addition, to encourage potential Caymanian employees, the HealthServices Department employs all known students pursuing health-relatedcareers during their vacation periods in the Cayman Islands.
In order to facilitate planning for the future staffing of theDepartment by returning Caymanians, earlier this year, the ChiefMedical Officer wrote to 13 Caymanian medical students studyingoverseas to make contact with them to see how their training wasdeveloping and what their plans were for the future. Unfortunately,only three responded.
In his letter to the editor, Mr. Solomon states that his son,a qualified medical doctor and surgeon, was unable to get a properaudience with government's health authorities. In fact, Dr. DarleySolomon, Jnr., did meet with the Honourable Minister for Health,myself and with the Chief Medical Officer.
Moreover, there was an exchange of correspondence between theChief Medical Officer and Dr. Solomon in which the Chief MedicalOfficer responded to the latter's enquiries, and it was anticipatedthat Dr. Solomon would have taken up employment in June, 2000after completing training overseas.
The Health Services Department regrets very much that Dr. Solomonhas chosen not to return to the Cayman Islands at this time. However,I would like to make it clear, that the Department is still eagerto offer employment to Dr. Solomon and to any other Caymanianwho has obtained qualifications and training in medicine and anyother health-related discipline.
Yours sincerely,
Mervyn Conolly
Director of Health Services