Doctors in Bermuda have backed calls for a national health council to be set up as a priority next year with the aim of reducing costs and improving the service to patients.

They said steps should be taken to massively reduce the number of patients going overseas for treatment when they can receive the same care on the Island.

Both the Bermuda Medical Society and the Bermuda Medical Association said they agreed with insurance companies, who last week said a health council was needed to bring all sectors of the industry together.

They said they were as concerned as everyone else about the rising cost of health care, and said the health council could be the ticket to ensuring that each of the different sectors played their part accordingly.

And if that meant being more stringent on the way cash was spent, then so be it.

Dr. Jonathan Murray, president of the Medical Society, said: “The medical fraternity is very much interested in containing health care costs and have been since we started looking at them many years ago.

“We are also keen to avoid increasing numbers of uninsured patients, which is a serious threat if costs continue to escalate.

“Physicians support the call for a national health council, and feel that it's critically important that employers and consumer protection groups are all represented on such a council.

“Physicians see their role on the council as advocates for patients. As Bermuda moves towards health care reform, we feel it's important to embrace those aspects of managed care which enhance quality and reduce cost.”

Dr. Murray said it was critical that the right people were on the council in order for it to work.

Concern has been raised in recent weeks over the rising cost of health care, leading to the growing cost of health insurance premiums.

It is feared if premiums continue to rise, employers will reduce cover for their staff, leaving the patient to pay more out of his own pocket.

Both doctors and the insurance companies agree that the increase is the result of an ageing population, growth in technology, rising cost of pharmaceuticals, greater patient expectation and a greater number of doctors.

However, both the Medical Association and the Society also claim that costs could be massively reduced if fewer people travelled overseas for treatment they could get in Bermuda.

They said too many people treated the three and four day stays as “shopping trips”.

The doctors said more should be done to make sure as many patients as possible are treated in Bermuda and that insurance companies do not simply offer to send people overseas as a way to compete and win more business.

Dr. Murray said many patients at the moment are opting to be treated overseas so they and a relative could have an all-expenses paid shopping trip in the US.

Californian Dr. James Brockenbrough, a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon in Bermuda and treasurer of the medical association, said at the moment, insurance companies paid 100 percent of the medical, travel and hotel costs for a patient, and a relative, to receive care in some parts of North America - money which was wasted.

He said he had seen a number of cases where insurance companies had paid for people to go overseas to have normal deliveries of babies, get tonsils taken out, and have physical medical examinations - all of which could be done at a fraction of the price in Bermuda.

He said: “Those things that can be done on the Island, should be done on the Island. There should be no sending people overseas unless it's needed.

“We have specific examples of Dr. Murray said he knew of a case where a Bermudian doctor was working in Boston, where he was treating a number of Bermudian patients who were travelling overseas for care.

However, when that same doctor returned to Bermuda to work, one of the local patients he had been treating for sometime in US, asked to be sent overseas to see a specialist.

Dr. Murray said: “Do you have any idea how soul destroying it is for a doctor to be told that a patient wishes to be sent overseas for a tonsillectomy?”

Family practitioner Dr. Femi Bada, who is also a member of the society and came to Bermuda from England, said he believed more should be done in Bermuda to promote preventative measures, particularly for diabetes and heart disease.

Again, he said a health council and the insurance companies could help with this role. And he also spoke out about unnecessary treatment overseas.