A petition signed by thousands of people is unlikely to change Government’s decision to close a medical clinic for the poor by the end of June, the Premier said yesterday.

The document protesting against the controversial closure of the Medical Clinic — formerly known as the Indigent Clinic — will be handed to Premier Ewart Brown today after demonstrators stage a march to Cabinet.

Asked if it would have any bearing on the future of the clinic, Dr. Brown told a press conference: “I doubt it.”

He admitted there had been “minimum consultation with the patients themselves” as to whether the facility, which is based at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, should close, but said they would be given a choice as to which physician to see in the future.

Last night protest organiser Jenny Brooks said more than 3,000 people had signed the petition and the Premier’s dismissal of it was wrong.

“The fact that none of the patients were consulted on this plan and they are now speaking out against the decision to close the clinic has to be considered, it can’t be ignored,” she said. “These are the very people who will be affected by this.”

She added: “Is this a democratic society or a dictatorship that we are living in now in Bermuda?”

Twenty doctors have so far agreed to take on the 1,500 patients who use the clinic but Dr. Brown told journalists yesterday that figure was likely to rise to about 30. “I expect that the number will be closer to the number of doctors that we have in Bermuda,” he said. “It will be more than enough.”

The Premier said the plan had the backing of Bermuda Medical Association and would create “considerable savings” for the Government in the long run.

He said staff salaries at the Medical Clinic had ballooned to more than half a million dollars a year and that 30 patients were currently taking up acute care beds at the hospital despite not being ill — at a cost to the taxpayer of $6 million a year. The new scheme, he said, would enable them to receive more appropriate care.

Once the Medical Clinic shuts, patients will have to pay $5 each time they visit their doctor. Their suitability for financial help — or “indigent status” — will be determined by the Department of Financial Assistance.

“We think that that’s going to work well,” said Dr. Brown. “If it’s properly run it should not strip people of their dignity at all.”

Acting Health Minister Philip Perinchief unveiled details of how the new arrangements will work at yesterday’s press conference. He said patients will be asked if they want to visit their last physician of record. If not, they will be shown a list of doctors to choose from.

“To ensure that no one physician has an overwhelming proportion of the clients, the clients will be shared as equally as possible among the participating physicians,” he said.

Dr. Brown added: “It will be a private matter between (them and) the doctor they are seeing at their last visit to the clinic.”

Mentally ill patients and those with substance abuse programmes will be treated at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute while Government-run nursing home residents will be treated at the home.

Mr. Perinchief said doctors treating former clinic patients will be reimbursed the cost within 30 days by the Department of Social Insurance and that extra staff had already been taken on to clear up an outstanding backlog.

The Minister said “high risk” clients in need of additional benefits for their health care would get them based on a recommendation from their physician which would be reviewed by the Government’s Chief Medical Officer.

Mr. Perinchief met with 20 doctors last week and will meet with volunteers who provide transport to appointments for poor patients shortly.

“Where there is a need, private transportation providers will also be contracted as necessary,” he said.

Dr. Brown told the media that some of those who had been quick to criticise the closure of the clinic — a measure first announced in last November’s Throne Speech — were under-informed.

“This caring Government has prepared a plan for those people in our community who are financially disadvantaged,” he said.

Protesters to march today