Trinidad Doctors and Nurses Join PSA Protest

Some 200 hundred doctors in Trinidad belonging to the Medical Professional Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MPATT) are expected to join public servants in a massive protests through the streets of San Fernando today, protesting the suspension of ten Regional Health Authority workers, stalled wage negotiations and the dismissal of the authority’s chief executive officer, Paula Chester-Cumberbatch.

Current protest action is being sought after five doctors, and four nurses, who were involved in the caesarean section which lead to the death of Crystal Boodoo-Ramsoomair were suspended. Boodoo-Ramsoomair, a 29-year-old mother of two, bled to death at the San Fernando General Hospital on March 4 on the maternity ward after undergoing the surgery.

General secretary of MPATT Dr Shehenaz Mohammed said the suspended health workers were being crucified without first getting a fair trial.

Mohammed said, the senior house officer in charge of the Caesarean section had performed more than 250 Caesarean sections, including many high-risk cases. Complaining of a shortage of staff on the unit, Mohammed explained that for the past five years, the department had been functioning with only an acting registrar with no specialist qualifications. (Trinidad Guardian)

The protest action will coincide with industrial action from the Public Services Association, the National Trade Union Centre (NATUC), sick-out action by police officers, among other groups. Today has been declared Black Out Monday by the umbrella trade union organisation. Demonstrators are expected to gather from as early as 8 a.m. on Harris Promenade, in San Fernando.

Mohammed also called on Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis to resign. She said the firing of Chester-Cumberbatch was "wrong, unjust and brutal", and therefore mentioned that the unanimous decision came after a meeting last friday at the San Fernando General Hospital, with about 200 doctors.