Volunteers and campaigners fear former patients of The Medical Clinic will inundate the Emergency Room after the clinic closed yesterday.

Eight and a half months ago the Premier Dr. Ewart Brown announced in his Throne Speech that the Medical Clinic at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital would shut.

The closure was scheduled for June 29, however on June 27, the newly appointed Health Minister, Michael Scott, revealed the clinic would remain open for an extra two weeks to ensure patients were placed with doctors.

A clinic employee told The Royal Gazette the doors shut for good yesterday, but the Ministry of Health would not confirm the closure and said an update would be given next week.

A volunteer who worked at the clinic for 21 years, however, said even if patients have been placed with physicians, the 23 doctors all have busy practices and she’s not sure how they will cope. “A lot of the patients do not have doctors and even those that do, I’m not sure how the doctors are going to manage. They all have such busy practices and these are patients who will call up and need to see a doctor right away,” she said.

“I have also seen patients who see the doctors there and then need to have blood work done right away or have an EKG right away. It was convenient when they were in the hospital, now I don’t know what they’ll do.

“I’m pretty sure the Emergency Room will be swamped.

”Jenny Brookes, who has campaigned against the closure of the clinic, echoed these concerns saying there have been two different responses from patients.

She said: “They are either in tears and totally distraught or they are very appreciative towards the nurses and volunteers who have worked at the clinic for so long. And although they are not happy with the decision to close are making sure they are showing their appreciation.

”In May the new plan that was mailed out to every resident on the Island by the Ministry of Health revealed the clinic patients would be put on the Government’s Health Insurance Plan (HIP).

Before they can be transferred, however, patients would have to go to the Financial Aid Department to be means tested and will then be issued a HIP card specially marked to identify them as former Medical Clinic patients.

Finally, the 512 patients, in consultation with Dr. Stanley James, the Attending Physician at the Medical Clinic, will be sent to one of the 23 doctors on a list provided by the Ministry of Health.

However, questions were raised over the actual number of doctors and Premier Dr. Brown, who is on the list, said he will not be receiving patients though his practice, Bermuda Healthcare Services. At least one other doctor has said she never agreed to be on the list and would not be accepting patients.

Ms Brookes added: “Many patients still do not have doctors and certainly not the doctors of their choice. Many of their files will say ‘see own GP’, meaning they have not been placed.

“When they do get sick or need a doctor, they will have to go to the Emergency Room and when the ER Doctor sees their file it will simply say ‘See own GP’, but they won’t have one because the clinic has closed.”