MONTEGO BAY, St James — Dr Fenton Ferguson came to this resort city last Friday intent on mending fences and tackling challenges facing the health sector here. At the end of a meeting with professionals and other stakeholders he could declare ‘mission accomplished’.

According to Ferguson, the health minister, workers in the sector who took industrial action more than a week ago over a cut in their emoluments have accepted his apology.

“I apologised again to our workers in relation to the way the situation was handled last week. And from all indications the apology was accepted and we have given a commitment that going forward, we will ensure that there is continued dialogue,” Dr Ferguson told reporters Friday afternoon.

Late last month, only emergency cases were attended to at hospitals in the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), including Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), Falmouth and Savanna-la-Mar hospitals as health-care workers took industrial action in protest over a 15 per cent cut in their on-call allowances and overtime duties.

Dr Ferguson blamed late communication as the cause for the workers’ disgust.

“And even as the industrial action might have been triggered by the gap of a 15 per cent in terms of sessions and overtime… we still believe that the last-minute communication really was what led to the impasse,” Dr Ferguson argued.

Dr Ferguson, his State Minister Luther Buchanan and other representatives from the Ministry of Health had met Friday at CRH with members of the WRHA board, and professional groups from across the region.

The agenda included some of the challenges facing the health sector.

After the meeting, the minister underscored the need for consultation with the stakeholders on issues relating to the sector.

“Last week we had some industrial relations issues and I felt at the time — as I now still believe — that while we recognise that there is need for us to look at cost reductions right across the health sector, we are of the view that as we develop those cost-saving methodologies, or proposals, that there is a need for consultation, and moreso, consultation with the critical stakeholders,” Dr Ferguson said.

“It is against those backgrounds that last week, in spite of the good intentions of the board, throughout the western authority, it is of the view that we did not take the necessary time to consult with our critical groups of doctors, nurses, diagnosticians, etcetera, in coming to a particular position,” he explained.

According to the health minister, Friday’s discussions — which he described as “frank” — included how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement is impacting ministries.

“The nature of the present IMF agreement is ministry-specific,” he said, adding that the health ministry has a responsibility to meet certain targets, as agreed with the Ministry of Finance, as a precondition for the IMF arrangement.

Those targets include the health ministry keeping within its recurrent budget of $34.77 billion for 2014/2015.

He explained that even as there is an increase in the 2014/2015 budget over the previous year, “when you take into account inflation, when you take into account devaluation of the dollar, especially as it impacts on our pharmaceuticals, it is clear that we still have some challenges”.