A group tasked with retooling unpopular healthcare legislation will have a busy summer amending the Act in time for Parliament this September.

“We will see how fast we can put something together,” said Henry Dowling, the head of the Bermuda Medical Doctors Association, who declared himself “hard pressed” to find any physicians in favour of the legislation in its existing form.

The Bermuda Health Council Amendment Act 2016 was welcomed by the council as tightening the monitoring of healthcare services, but Dr Dowling said it ended up “doing double duty” with registrations already covered by physicians’ own board.

“We’re already licensed and yet we would need to get another licence, for no apparent reason,” he said.

“It was also unduly restrictive on self-referrals. For example, I work with my wife, who is a chiropractor; a lot of the time people will say, ‘If it’s right here, I might as well use it’. I would have to get permission and then keep a record for someone else to look over.”

Physicians would have to apply for permission to import high-risk medical technology, but Dr Dowling knew of few services that ordered diagnostic equipment — adding that the association kept tabs on referrals for diagnostic tests and imaging in case they got out of hand.

“I don’t think any physician has a problem with oversight,” Dr Dowling said. “It’s about the level, and who is doing it.

“Having non-medical people doing oversight can lead to discrepancies.”

Health minister Jeanne Atherden agreed to put the legislation on hold after a meeting with doctors, so that a group could amend it.

Dr Dowling will be among the working group fine-tuning the legislation in time for this September’s extra sessions of Parliament.