Protesting doctors at the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) are expected to return to work today as a health crisis was averted after the intervention of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Persad-Bissessar, chairmen of the Regional Health Authorities and the Medical Professionals Association of T&T (MPATT), which represents the doctors, met for the second day yesterday at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann's to resolve their concerns.
The Prime Minister said the first meeting took place on Wednesday evening at the same venue. At the post-Cabinet news conference which was held later, Persad-Bissessar said "consensus was arrived at." She said the doctors had agreed to "support and co-operate" with a review of operations at San Fernando General Hospital. This probe was ordered after the death of a 29-year-old Chrystal Boodoo-Ramsoomair during a Caesarean Section on March 4. The PM said the exercise was intended "to ascertain whether there was any systematic shortcomings or institutional failures."
She said the disciplinary probe which was a matter for the SWRHA Board would follow the systems review undertaken by the Ministry of Health. Persad-Bissessar said Housing and the Environment Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal would replace Legal Affairs Minister Prakash Ramadhar on the inter-ministerial committee to review and examine the industrial relations issues at the SWRHA. That committee is being chaired by Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh, and includes Labour Minister Errol McLeod.
The PM said the major issue affecting the doctors was their acting appointments as registrars and consultants. She read a letter from the Director of Personnel Services, Service Commissions Department which confirmed that "doctors who are pursuing their post-graduate qualification and were appointed to act in the offices of registrar and consultant can lawfully continue to discharge those functions and duties." Persad-Bissessar said as a consequence of this assurance, "the doctors have agreed to resume duties with immediate effect and continue to provide dedicated service to their patients." She noted, however, that the suspensions of five doctors and five nurses, after Boodoo-Ramsoomair's death remained in effect and any decision to cancel or extend would be made by the SWRHA.
MPATT's spokesman, Colin Furlonge, said the issue of doctors' appointments had been critical.
He said it was that issue which led to the health service being "quite undermanned and as a result of which patients have been having to wait longer hours and their surgeries postponed." He also apologised for Boodoo-Ramsoomair's death. "I would like to apologise to the family and I understand, just like anyone else, all the doctors and the public, some of the suffering of the families of patients who have lost lives," he said. Furlonge was high in praise for the members of the panel.
Furlonge said the doctors felt the team would engender trust in the health sector. "We have a wide cross-section of people who we are comfortable with, will do a trustworthy job, will be fair and will be able to guide us-whether there would be human error or institution deficiencies," he stressed.
MPATT's general secretary, Shehenaz Mohammed, said doctors were "comforted" by Persad-Bissessar's intervention. She said before the PM's intervention, the health sector was facing a very difficult situation. She said the PM's intervention was "very timely and we feel assured that the investigation that's going to take place would be thorough, fair and transparent." Mohammed expressed the hope that the deliberations would lead to an improvement in the health sector and a way forward for the nation.