Former president of the western chapter of the Medical Association of Jamaica (MAJ), Dr Jacqueline Chambers says medical practitioners involved in the unauthorised administration of antigen (rapid) tests on the black market have brought shame to the profession.

“Unethical doctors make me ashamed to be a part of this profession and I have to speak up where I see these behaviours,” Chambers told The Gleaner yesterday. “So far I have kept the discussion among colleagues, but this has gotten out of hand and threatens to stain the entire medical profession in the public eye, and I am firmly standing on the side of the Hippocratic oath – first, do no harm.”

Chambers, the medical director of i-Doc Concierge Wellness Services in Montego Bay, was reacting to a Sunday Gleaner report that revealed that several medical professionals were operating unauthorised testing facilities.

“‘First, do no harm’ is the Hippocratic oath to which we swear after we have done the necessary training to become doctors. It is a set of guidelines – ethical principles – under which we operate,” said the veteran medical doctor. “But … if it is found that these are really medically trained doctors, I say to them, ‘Shame on you. Remember your oath. Do no harm, Doctor’.”

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