A report in the Newsday newspaper says doctors at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital "are at a loss over comments made by Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh that ethnic cleansing of Indo-Trinidadian doctors was taking place at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital".
It quoted the sister of Prime Minister Patrick Manning as saying, “I have no idea what ethnic cleansing...Why use the term ethnic cleansing?”
Petronella Manning-Alleyne, a consultant at the Neonatal Unit of the hospital, acknowledged that some doctors have left the system through a Voluntary Separation of Employment (VSEP). But she insisted that it was voluntary.
Manning-Alleyne is one of the doctors who accepted VSEP but returned on contract with the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA), Newsday said.
“People got tired. It has been frustrating; not based on race but the inefficiencies of the health system. People got the opportunity to run from it and they did,” one doctor told the paper on condition of anonymity.
Newsday said another senior doctor said there is usually a shortage of junior doctors at the hospital between March and August while younger doctors go abroad to get specialist training abroad, so the government is forced to hire foreigner, including Africans. It did not identify the doctor.
Three of the 14 senior doctors who Gopeesingh said were "forced to take VSEP, have not had their contracts renewed, or were frustrated out" of working at the Port of Spain General Hospital have told the Trinidad Express they have no evidence they were victims of any "ethnic cleansing".
However the paper said ophthalmologists Dr Kim Hosein and Dr Robin Hosein, and neurosurgeon Dr Steve Mahadeo all raised concerns that since they left the hospital, they have not been replaced by any consultants, despite that the fact that there are a number of qualified local doctors who can do the job.
"I don't know what the reason is, whether it is ethnic cleansing or racial prejudice, but I know that there is no logical reason why there is no consultant ophthalmologist at Port of Spain General right now," the paper quoted Kim Hosein as saying.
She added that the public is suffering because of this. "What I would like to see is that some kind of investigation takes place," she said.
In an editorial Monday, the Trinidad Guardian wrote:
"Gopeesingh has raised a critical issue that’s worthy of investigation and review, but this hardly seems to be the most effective way of dealing with the problem...Of the 13 doctors he named as being victims of what he described as “blatant intimidation and ongoing discrimination by the Government,” three are not of Indian descent...That’s hardly reason to discount his accusations..."
Read the editorial: The good doctor serves up a messy platter
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