Government consultation procedures have come under fire by island doctors who claim there is a lack of transparency in the process.

Physicians have won the backing of one senior government MP who broke ranks with the ruling party, arguing that it had been “disrespectful” to health workers.

Derrick Burgess, the Deputy Speaker of the House, supported opposition MPs and members of the Bermuda Medical Doctors Association in expressing concerns that the Government’s approach to consultation was “disingenuous at best”.

Critics spoke out ahead of a raft of health-related legislation being passed in the House of Assembly on Friday night that will regulate how private medical practices operate.

Under one of three Bills that were rubber-stamped by MPs, private health businesses will not be able to import or use specialist equipment unless authorised by the Bermuda Health Council — a government quango.

The BMDA claimed that the legislation is strangling innovation and harming patient care by depriving them of state-of-the-art technology.

During Friday night’s debate, Walter Roban, as Acting Minister of Health, said the island must “work together” to strengthen its health system.

He claimed that the amendment would better allow the Bermuda Health Council to oversee its role as a regulator of the industry. He also insisted that there had been “interface consultations” between doctors and administrators.

But according to the BMDA, it only received a consultation request from the BHeC concerning the proposed legislation on August 13 — and was given a ten-day deadline to respond.

It was not provided with a draft copy of the Bill until after that deadline had expired, a spokesman claimed.

Concerns over the apparent lack of consultation were raised by the One Bermuda Alliance during Friday’s debate.

Craig Cannonier, the Shadow Minister of Health, said: “What is being brought to my attention with this particular amendment and the minister talked about collaboration and consultation and the like.

“But at the heart of this particular Bill is a concern about collaboration and also a concern about bureaucracy.

“The issue comes down to ‘have we consulted and collaborated enough?’

“Right now, tensions are high in this particular area.”

Echoing those concerns, Mr Burgess, a former head of the Bermuda Industrial Union, said: “We look at our doctors, we trust them, they deliver our children, we call on them when we have a pain, an emergency, and yet I think we treat them with disrespect.

“The consultation with doctors is not happening like it should happen. Consultation should be formalised. It’s almost like you’re negotiating a contract with workers.

“Workers and employers get together and they negotiate and they come to an agreement.

“It’s not where employers send you a draft and say ‘take this and go over it and we’ll decide what’s going to happen’.

“That’s what’s happening to the doctors right now. They should be involved with anything to do with their business.”

The veteran MP accused the health council of “picking on low-hanging fruit’ in support of big business, and claimed that it was over-regulating private practices.

“We’re treating our doctors like they’re some outside invaders,“ he said.

“It doesn’t make any sense.”

The BMDA raised concerns about the lack of sufficient information and time immediately after it received a request from the BHeC informing it of the proposed law-change.

As a result, the deadline was extended. On August 29, BMDA representatives attended a 90-minute virtual consultation meeting with the health council.

However, during that meeting, participants were not allowed to ask questions or give feedback, and lacked copies of the draft Bill, although they were given a PowerPoint presentation summarising its main points.

The BMDA was able to submit feedback based on that presentation one week later on September 5. It expressed a concerns with the proposed law, including excessive criminal penalties, and unclear statutory definitions. The organisation also pointed out that it still had not seen a draft copy of the Bill.

The organisation finally received a draft copy on September 19 — after the feedback deadline date and just one day before the legislation was tabled in the House of Assembly.

The spokesman said: “The BMDA was not given the actual draft of the legislation during the consultation process, limiting the ability of healthcare professionals to fully understand and respond to the proposals.

“The ten-day consultation window, compounded by preparations for Hurricane Ernesto, was insufficient for stakeholders to thoroughly review and provide feedback on complex legislation.

“The BMDA believes that the heavy reliance on judicial review to challenge decisions is impractical, expensive and time-consuming for healthcare providers.

"The lack of transparency and fair consultation has been extremely concerning. Our healthcare community deserves a proper platform to contribute to such important regulatory changes.

“The BMDA is calling for a more transparent and inclusive approach from the Bermuda Health Council. We urge the council to provide draft legislation in a timely manner and extend the consultation period to allow for meaningful stakeholder engagement.

“The BMDA also recommends implementing a regulatory framework similar to that used by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, which includes written warnings, the opportunity to respond to decisions and an appeals process through a statutory tribunal before judicial review is required.”

It said the lack of engagement from experts in clinical medicine and physicians treating patients was “ignorance at its worst, and disingenuous at best”.

On Friday, the BHeC, defended the Bill and the consultation process.

Ricky Brathwaite, the council’s chief executive, said that changes in regulations governing health businesses and high-risk health technology had been on the table for at least seven years because of a number of concerns.

Dr Brathwaite said: “These concerns include the propensity of local businesses to operate in silos and the effect of not having more structure and co-ordination in the system has on patient care.

“The emphasis being that this is especially detrimental when it comes to an ageing population that requires more complex care, more aggressive treatments and more multidisciplinary supports.

“What has been tabled are not new proposals but ones that have been refined over that extended seven-year period, been the focus of consultation since last October 2023 and intensely focused on over the last six weeks.

“We previously heard the concerns about transparency and so we ensured in the last 12 months, we have made everything that we could make public, available on our website.”

Dr Brathwaite, who warned this year that health legislation was outdated, insisted that physicians will still be the driving force behind changes.

He said that a basic framework of regulations was adopted from “reputable organisations” such as the World Health Organisation and the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

He added: ”Ultimately however, the details of what is done and how we protect the public’s right to high-quality healthcare — no matter what business they solicit — will be developed by the health professionals themselves.

“It will be health professionals and their associated businesses throughout our system that will tell us what is important to check or maintain, what should be the ethical responsibilities and safety protocols, how responsive a business should be and how effective their procedures are.

“It will be the health professionals that give us the markers that define the playing field.”

The Government did not respond to requests for comment by press time.