Government has launched an inquiry into claims of racism against black doctors at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, the Premier told MPs last night.

Premier Alex Scottsaid that the Ministry of Home Affairs was being assisted with the investigation by the Island?s Ombudsman.

His announcement came a week after Shadow Home Affairs Minister Maxwell Burgess called for a commission to investigate the allegations.

The Premier told the House of Assembly: ?Currently we do have the black doctors, Bermudian doctors there, telling of grave concerns.

?The Government has, through the Ministry of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety instituted an inquiry.?

Mr. Scott said a doctor told him this week that the situation at the hospital was worse than the ?old days?.

?I remember the old days,? he said. ?I know what our doctors went through.?

Earlier, Deputy Premier Ewart Browncalled on medical chiefs to ?root out the ones that are planting the seeds of division and disharmony? at KEMH. ?Find them and get rid of them,? he said.sister paper, the Mid-Ocean News, revealed in March that two doctors had written to the health authorities claiming that doctors were treated differently according to skin colour. Former Bermuda Medical Association president Dr. Cindy Morris later said she had been the victim of institutional racism while at the hospital.

Dr. Brown told the House during yesterday?s motion to adjourn that because Bermuda only had one hospital, any criticism should be tempered with encouragement for all staff.

?We must do all we can to make it better,? he said.

He said the Island needed to attract more nurses and told MPs there was no reason why Bermuda should not have a reputation in health care that matched its global name in the financial sector.

?We should have the best that?s available and not allow substandard health care to come in simply because of prejudices of one kind or another.?

Shadow Health Minister Louise Jacksonsaid that staff shortages meant nurses were severely stretched, with some on medication because of the strain.

And Opposition leader Wayne Furbert said a new law should be introduced so that cash-strapped seniors, with medical insurance, did not have to pay up front for an appointment to see a doctor. ?We can?t have seniors paying double.?

He said that if doctors were making patients pay before leaving the surgery because they were not getting reimbursement claims processed fast enough, Government had a duty to speed the process

Mr. Scott said parliamentarians needed to be careful when criticising KEMH in the House. ?It?s an old friend that has served us well and is trying to do better,? he said.

?There are some cases that could turn out better, yes. Could the hospital do better? Yes. But every institution can do better.?

The Premier told members that much of the treatment at the hospital was first-class but that didn?t make the headlines.

?Be careful; be judicious,? he warned. ?You don?t have to stand here and grandstand at the expense of that hospital. There are many ways to correct the ills there.?