Regina General Hospital heads accused of 'gross abuse of power' in human rights complaint
A group of foreign-trained doctors in Regina have filed a complaint with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, alleging department heads at Regina General Hospital targeted them with “racist, and discriminatory leadership”.
The ten physicians, all trained in Africa or East Asia, filed the complaint on October 5, 2023, according to CTV News. It alleged that the doctors’ grievances began when Dr. Bonnie Richardson and Dr. Linas Kumeliauskas became the hospital’s department of medicine lead and lead of their internal division, respectively.
The two doctors fired the individual responsible for hospital staff scheduling and took over the role themselves, the complaint alleges. They then began scheduling the most lucrative shifts, such as teaching shifts, almost exclusively to white doctors. There were 17 members in total in their department.
Trouble began with change in power
“It was a wonderful place to settle in—inclusive—and that has been my experience 100 per cent up until (recently)," Dr. Babatunde Adewunmi, trained in Nigeria, told CTV National News. "It's literally (become) the most toxic place, any one of us has ever walked in."
"I love my work," Dr. Rosemary Serwadda, South African doctor, told CTV National News. "My patients are amazing, my colleagues are amazing—until about six months ago, (and) it changed so fast."
"We felt like there was a gross abuse of power, essentially telling us we're not as good as the others and we don't deserve to be equal," said Dr. Abiodun Abdulazzez Olajide, also originally from Nigeria.
Complaints resulted in increased harassment, claim alleges
Hospital administrators were unsympathetic, the BIPOC doctors claimed, stating that when they requested fair treatment from hospital higher-ups, they were dismissed. Further, some of the claimants allege that they experienced increased bullying and harassment, including faulty complaints about them to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan.
When the claimants approached the Ministry of Health about the situation, they received no response, and an investigation launched by the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) put the onus on hospital staff to determine if Dr. Richardson had breached hospital policy.
In a statement to CTV News, the SHA stated: "The SHA is committed to having a workforce that is representative of all demographics and can support Saskatchewan's diverse population. The SHA will not provide any comment on legal matters taking into account the interests of all those involved."
The Ministry of Health stated to CTV that they, “cannot comment on active legal matters” but that it takes any concerns related to quality of care very seriously and remains committed to improving cultural responsiveness of the services and programs provided in the health care system."