In a letter to Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) chairman Anthony Richardson, the doctor wrote that events at KEMH led him to believe that: "The subliminal message to the remaining black surgeons appears to be quite clear ? 'your services are no longer required'."

And another black doctor has written to Health Minister Patrice Minors to detail instances that he believes show that white health professionals get more favourable treatment, from management and the BHB, than blacks.

The obtained copies of both letters this week from a source who declined to be named but felt the problems described should be aired publicly.

"This problem has been going on for years and the BHB and the Government are well aware of it, but nothing is done," the source said.

We contacted the authors of both letters, who both declined to comment and asked that their names be kept out of our story for professional reasons.

The doctor who wrote the letter to the BHB, dated earlier this month, said he was writing "with much trepidation", though he felt compelled to do so "by a sense of duty to right what is wrong".

". . . I have been subjected to a number of practices that can, at best be characterised as arbitrary, and at worst be labelled racist," the physician wrote.

"I am an African-American board-certified plastic surgeon who has experienced racism in my own country. While discrimination is no stranger to me, the way in which a minority population (Caucasian) oppresses the majority population is unique and relatively unknown to me before I arrived in Bermuda."

The physician said his problems started with the first procedure he was booked to perform at the hospital, the removal of braces from a patient's teeth.

A nurse in charge of the operating room told him, in what he described as "a very public and shaming way", that he did not have the necessary privileges to perform the procedure.

"Despite the fact that a full set of privileges requested for plastic surgery were requested and granted, this nurse was able to arbitrarily impose her authority in order to make it clear that I was not welcomed," the doctor wrote.

"Though I have enjoyed incredible surgical success in the OR (operating room) at KEMH, every day remains a struggle to provide adequate care to my patients."

A white member of senior management had made demeaning comments about his abilities, he went on, and one white nurse had carried out "a campaign of letter writing and abuse" against him.

This extended to his patients, the physician claimed. A year ago, a white patient complained about her mistreatment that she said was directed at her because her doctor was black. No disciplinary action was taken against the nurse in question.

The physician also ran into problems with a radiologist, who he said had taped their phone conversations and used one of the tapes as the basis of a complaint against the American.

"After these early experiences, it became clear that there were no consequences for these blatant acts of racism in this public institution," the doctor wrote. "Clear, specific complaints fell on deaf ears.

"The remainder of my experiences simply echo the earlier ones: difficulty with scheduling cases, difficulty with consistently obtaining the equipment that my discipline requires, distracting personal attacks and indifferent or acrimonious treatment of my patients."

The doctor stressed in his letter that he got on well with many white staff members at the hospital. He added: "Whilst it is true that we work together as a team, we are far too often distracted by the divisiveness of institutional racism that abounds at KEMH.

"Frankly, I am concerned about reprisals against me for writing this letter.

"I am more afraid, however, that these destructive practices will continue unabated and unchallenged, if I do nothing.

"Presently, the perpetrators of institutional racism are able to manipulate the system by identifying managers, committee and department heads who are sympathetic to their views and facilitate their activities.

"They are able to circumvent and bypass the usual checks and balances in the hospital by 'leap-frogging' over the mechanisms and managers who would normally ensure balance and fairness.

"The causes and solutions lie within individuals and the system.

"Eradication of institutional racism at KEMH will not be easy and will require system changes and elimination of the perpetrators."

The BHB last night declined to comment on the doctors' allegations.