New amendments to legalize part-time doctors

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, August 17, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos Islands Government is seeking to make it easier for certain non-resident health practitioners to work locally with amendments to the Health Professions Ordinance.

The lengthy amendment bill shared with Magnetic Media seeks to tighten up several parts of the original ordinance, including an expansion to the list of healthcare providers.

The current ordinance only allows for one unrestricted list of health professionals registered to work in the TCI.  The Government is now proposing that the list be split in two to authorize residents in one part and visiting health professionals in another.

It means a health professional who intends to work in the Islands temporarily but on frequent visits in any given year, can now apply to be a registered doctor, nurse, dentist, etc, to treat TCI islanders when they visit the country within the same year.

The unrestricted list is to be updated every year, and the new amendment opens several possibilities for the Turks and Caicos, including:

• Making teaching positions at the soon-to-be-established Hamilton University School of Medicine more attractive to potential lecturers by allowing them to practice locally, while they act as professors.
• Opening a new area of residential tourism to healthcare professionals who want to work and live in the Turks and Caicos during off-seasons in their home countries.
• Bolstering the number and caliber of medical professionals in the country available to residents every year.

In addition, it should make it easier for doctors who assist charities in the Turks and Caicos regularly to carry out their work.  Magnetic media has received complaints in the past regarding doctors arriving in the country to assist charities and being unable to work because of red tape surrounding their licenses.