Hamza: UNC made no secret deal

FORMER Health Minister Dr Hamza Rafeeq yesterday disclosed that a meeting did take place between a Cabinet sub-committee and a group of doctors prior to the December 2001 elections, but no agreement was made to give doctors a $40 million backpay. Speaking during debate on amendments to the Medical Board Act in Parliament last Friday, Planning Minister Dr Keith Rowley said a clique of doctors met with the Cabinet’s Finance and General Purposes Committee and directly negotiated the backpay. Rowley slammed the UNC and the Medical Professionals Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MPATT) for staying silent about the deal while publicly saying there were no arrangements in place to pay the doctors. Rafeeq accused Rowley of “playing political games” and said the doctors simply “made a presentation” to the committee.  He said the final decision regarding payment of doctors’ salaries would have been a joint decision of the committee and the Cabinet.

The former minister said by making their presentation to the committee, the committee would be guided in making the appropriate recommendation to Cabinet. He said Rowley was wrong to say the doctors’ action was “a first” because several other classes of public officers made similar presentations while the UNC was in office. Rafeeq stated that doctors’ contracts were coming to an end in December 2001, negotiations had been going on for a year and the UNC did not want to leave them in limbo. He further stated that doctors did not automatically receive salary increases but these came with performance appraisals attached. The Caroni Central MP dismissed Rowley’s allegations about a secret agreement being hatched, and that doctors in the Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) were represented by the Public Services Association (PSA) at the time. Rafeeq’s former colleague, Mervyn Assam, said the committee could not authorise the payment of doctors’ salaries and this authority lay within the ambit of an Inter-Ministerial Committee in consultation with the Chief Personnel Officer. He said two members of that committee were former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, and former Finance Minister Gerald Yetming. Assam stated that Yetming was also chairman of the Finance and General Purposes Committee in December 2001.