Medical Society refused to support the hiring of an expatriate doctor to continue the practice.

The Sports Medical Centre, the only clinic manned by qualified sports physicians on the Island, will shut down on June 30 when its owner, Dr.

Caroline Hammond, 57, retires. The centre is used by several hundred local people annually.

Dr. Hammond wants to hand her practice over to London-based New Zealander Dr.

Annabel Carter, since there are no qualified Bermudian sports physicians on the Island. But the BMS, which is Bermuda's profes sional body for physicians, has refused to support the hand-over without giving a reason, she said.

Dr. Carter has filled in for Dr. Hammond on a regular basis over the last four years whenever Dr. Hammond has taken a break. BMS approval is considered essential in order to successfully apply to the Department of Immigration for a work permit for an expatriate doctor.

In the past, the organisation has also turned down two requests from Dr.

Hammond for an assistant physician to help her with her increasing workload.

Dr. Hammond said yesterday she did not want to speculate on why the BMS had not supported her request.

She said: "The straightforward facts are that this practice is getting too busy for me and there's no-one here to help me. The fact that I'm getting older does not help.

"I applied to the Medical Society asking them to support my application for Dr. Carter to take over and they said they could not support me. They gave me no reason.

"I have previously applied on two previous occasions to bring in an assistant and they have also been turned down.'' Dr. Hammond's clinic was started ten years ago and enjoys widespread popularity among sportsmen and women on the Island.

The clinic, which also employs two sports physiotherapists, is the first treatment centre of choice for many local athletes who have picked up an injury.

BMS chairman Dr. John Stubbs and secretary Dr. Terrence Elliott could not be reached for comment yesterday.