A doctor has called for the new health council to decide on the issue of work permits after revealing he paid a local colleague $300,000 for his practice but then was forced off the Island.

Dr. Jonathan Murray said he paid the money to Dr. Robert Vallis who then reneged on their agreement. When his five-year work permit expired, he said Dr. Vallis then told him he wasn?t needed and his work permit was not renewed.

Dr. Murray, 52, said he paid $6,185 monthly rent from late 1995 to December 1999 and a further $6,253 monthly to pay for Dr. Vallis?s practice.

Dr. Murray welcomed the bill to set up a health council, introduced on Friday.

The bill states the health council will: ensure there is good health services; regulate, monitor, certify and set fees for health professionals; manage the health insurance plan; identify and publish goals for he health care system; regulate the price of drugs; promote wellness programmes; and carry out research.

Dr. Vallis said: ?With regard to comments apparently made by Dr. Murray concerning the purchase of my former practice, when the contract for the sale of the practice was drawn up a standard non-compete clause was inserted.

?The practice was not purchased outright but on a monthly basis over a period of time and the non-compete clause was only for the duration of the contract. Prior to the end of the contract, and by mutual agreement, the contract was terminated with no further payments by Dr. Murray and an end to the non-compete agreement.

?Although full payment of the agreed purchase price was not made, Dr. Murray continued to enjoy ownership of the practice and all its assets.?

But Dr. Murray said he feels he was short-changed and that Dr. Vallis essentially forced him out to make more money.

?I did indeed buy the practice but he verbally promised me I could stay for ten years,? he said.

?I never dreamed that another ENT (ear, nose and throat) surgeon would appear in Bermuda. If I had known how things (would turn) out I would not have paid for the practice. The reason that the full price was not paid was because Vallis could not make enough money as a GP and wanted to start an ENT practice again.?

Dr. Murray left Bermuda in early 2003 and is still waiting for a work permit to practice in Canada.

Terry Lister, who was then in charge of immigration, had said Bermuda already had three ENT specialists for its 60,000 population, whereas the UK had one per 80,000.

However, Dr. Murray said that was misleading as in the UK they would be full-time ENT specialists with back-up staff including junior doctors whereas Bermuda?s ENT specialists did other things, including one, Dr. Bruce Lattyak, who does no ENT work. Dr. Murray added: ?In Sweden they have one ENT consultant for every 20,000 patients.?

During his time on the Island, Dr. Murray also led doctors in a row with insurers over payments. ?I feel very bitter,? he said. ?Dr. Vallis didn?t want me there. Wesley Miller (ENT doctor) didn?t want me there. The insurance companies didn?t want me there. A lot of people didn?t want me there but a lot of people did.

?The fact that my patients continue to call me in Canada speaks volumes.?

He said it was wrong for doctors themselves to decide how the work was carved up.

?My personal feeling is there should be a health council to look at work permits consisting of medical people, insurance people and members of the public,? he said.

?It isn?t right that doctors hold work permits and expats have got to pay them but that happens and I had to do it.?

He said he had resisted going public on the deal but he then saw Dr. Vallis was charging his ex-patients much more.

A wife of a cancer patient had claimed Dr. Vallis had charged three times as much as Dr. Murray.

Dr. Murray said: ?I have to say I am disappointed Dr. Vallis should be charging this. I was the most experienced and qualified of the three ENTs and I charged less.?

Dr. Vallis said amounts quoted in a recent article were wrong and that he has extensive cancer experience.

?For eight years while in Bermuda, as the sole ENT surgeon, I performed all of the head and neck cancer surgery in Bermuda, single-handedly,? Dr. Vallis said.

?My patients were then referred variously to the UK, US and Canada for addition treatment (radiation and chemotherapy). My patients have been and still are well cared for in this area.

?I have work closely with colleagues at Johns Hopkins and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston where I would often go to observe when some of my patients were having complex procedures performed.

?Dr. Murray was trained in the same way that I have been trained and he practised here and overseas as a general ENT specialist. I would consider a cancer specialist as someone who practices exclusively in the field of cancer work, generally in larger institutions.?

Dr. Murray hit back: ?I am not in a position to challenge his credentials but he came to Bermuda with no further experience than the minimal training whereas normally, at the end of training, the surgeon works with other more experienced surgeons to allow discussion about difficult cases until he has built up enough experience.

?Again specifically cancer work requires much more training than the bare minimum. I worked in a teaching centre, Edinburgh, for 12 years before coming to Bermuda.

?We had twice weekly meetings to exchange views and I was partnered with a head and neck surgeon whose job was almost totally cancer.?

One expatriate doctor said it was common practice for doctors on work permits to pay a percentage to the holders of the permits. He said he had to pay the cost of his own work permit which he felt was reasonable but in some cases there was some abuse with doctors living off the back of others.

?There are a number of places which do this. I personally wouldn?t stand for it.?

He said there were arguments for a health council deciding the medical need for the number of doctors on the island. Another method would be to open it up to free market forces said the doctor, who did not wish to be named.

He said the best doctors would get work. If there was too little work doctors wouldn?t come.