However the body that represents doctors says it is because the hospital is severely understaffed.
The issue of procedure has come up in the controversy over the death of a patient, Chrystal Ramsoomair. The woman was admitted for a cesarean section to deliver her baby - the third such procedure, making it a complex case.
In such circumstances the rules stipulate that a senior doctor must be present, which was not the case with Ramsoomair; a house officer alone performed the procedure.
MPATT Executive member, Dr. Shehenaz Mohammed, told local media it is difficult to follow all the rules all time because of the under staffing problem.
In addition she said the doctor involved was very experienced. “MPATT would like to point out that the house officer involved is a senior officer. This senior officer has performed over 250 Caesarian Sections including many high risk cases,” Mohammed said.
She claimed that one unit in the department has been functioning for over five years with only an acting registrar who has no specialist qualifications. She said in the Ramsoomair case the hospital called out two additional doctors, one of whom is eight months pregnant.
An email from the fired CEO of the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) spoke about a breach of policy in the matter.
"It is quite clear to me that we have breached the MOH (Ministry of Health) Policy on the management of high-risk cases.
"By breach, I am noting that the Registrar 'failed to observe the Policy' whereby a house officer is not to perform a c-section alone in high risk cases," Paul Chester-Cumberbatch said in her email to the hospital's medical director.
"This patient was indeed 'high-risk' as this was her third c-section. For me this shows gross complacency and negligence by the senior doctor involved," the email said.
It added, "I will need to address with the assistance of the new board...the dismissal of staff on grounds of medical mismanagement...I am also concerned that nobody picked up on the fact that the patient was pale and her vitals indicating something was going wrong."
The SWRHA has since suspended the medical staff involved - five doctors and four nurses. They will be away from the hospital on fulll pay for two weeks while the authorities conduct an investigation into Ramsoomair's death.
The authority also fired the CEO for her failure to carry out instructions to suspend the doctors and nurses on Monday. The suspension notices did not go out until Wednesday. Chester-Cumbebatch was fired the next day.
The suspended doctors are head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department Dr Ashmeed Mohammed, Dr Rambalack Deepavali, Dr Roma Jaggernauth (Registrar), Dr Nandira Seenath and Dr Vishnu Bahal.
The SWHRA has also decided not to renew the contract of acting Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Anand Chattergoon, whose contract expires at the end of March.
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