The decision to turn down Dr. Jonathan Murray's application for a work permit has sparked extraordinary public reaction - almost all of it negative.

Unhappy patients have said that a physician's function and relationship with his or her patients is different from most other jobs, professional or otherwise.

Just who your physician is can be a matter of life and death, and several letter writers to this newspaper feel the only reason they are still on this earth is because Dr. Murray was their physician.

Other patients also feel that they do not wish to entrust their health and well being to any other doctor, and it is difficult not to feel sympathy for them.

These factors must be taken into account when considering the livelihoods of non-Bermudian doctors.

But it is also true that patients have to change doctors from time to time, as a result of retirement and the like.

The issue then is whether there are sufficient specialists - in terms of number and quality - in the community to serve the patients who need them.

Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister has stated that there are three other qualified ear, nose and throat specialists on the Island where there was only one some years ago and there is no necessity for there to be four given the size of Bermuda's population.

Critics of the decision have argued that there are in fact only two - the third is qualified to practise ENT but does not do so. And they also argue that Dr. Murray is also a cancer specialist where the others apparently are not. In addition, Dr. Murray has established an allergy clinic on the Island that seems to be very popular.

So it can be argued that Dr. Murray offers some specialities that may not be replaced and, based on the testimonials of his patients, he fills an important gap in health care.

It should also be remembered that Dr. Murray came to the Island because the only ENT practising had decided to close his practice.

Dr. Murray therefore built a practice and provided a need that Bermudian physicians could not, and had to change his life in order to do so.

It has to be assumed that he has benefited as a result, but the decision not to give him a work permit is not much thanks for the service he has provided.

As with any profession, health care has its share of personal rivalries and jealousies. And physicians, like it or not, are in competition like any other business.

It would be wrong to bar Bermudian physicians from making a living and providing a service by opening the doors to any physician from anywhere who wanted to come to the Island.

Still, it is difficult to believe in this case that the other specialists in this field are suffering. There seem to be good arguments for retaining Dr. Murray so that he can serve his obviously devoted clientele.