A DOCTOR was flown in from Jamaica to provide temporary cover for a hospital battling a major recruitment crisis.

The locum consultant was hired for just over five weeks because Aberdeen Royal Infirmary was left without a top anaesthetist.

NHS Grampian paid £1,535 pounds for the doctor's return flight from Kingston to Aberdeen in June.

Pay rates for the period from June 23 to August 1 started at £46 an hour and rose to £68 for the last two weeks.

The crisis-hit health board then paid more than £2,175 to fly in a consultant in from India to cover a weekend shift in the casualty department a few weeks after the anaesthetist returned home.

Yesterday, NHS Grampian said the consultant from Jamaica had worked at the hospital before, but could not confirm if he was a retired specialist who had relocated to the Caribbean.

A health board spokeswoman said: "He was known to the department and his economy flight ticket was paid as part of the agreement for securing his services. No accommodation costs were involved.

"Locum doctors are a necessary expense for any NHS board.

"They provide vital support to our full-time staff complement and when vacancies arise in the medical staff group locum or agency doctors are used to ensure continuity of service while we recruit.

"Approximately 500 consultants are employed in Grampian and at any one time some vacancies are to be expected."