Judge reserves NWRHA judgment

JUSTICE Sebastien Ventour has reserved judgment in a lawsuit filed by a pharmacist for alleged wrongful dismissal from the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA). Ameena Ali was seconded from the Ministry of Health to the NWRHA as Administrator of Primary Health Care Services, but she was dismissed by the authority this year — eight months short of her two-year contract. Justice Ventour’s decision, whenever it comes, will have implications for scores of Ministry of Health employees who, having been seconded to Regional Health Authorities, were dismissed for whatever reasons before their contractual period ended. These employees simply reverted back to the ministry. But not Ali.

Ali, of San Juan, was granted leave last month by Justice Peter Jamadar to seek judicial review of the NWRHA’s decision to dismiss her. She was asked to return to the Health Ministry to her substantive post as a senior pharmacist. Justice Ventour, presiding in the First Civil Court, heard two days of legal arguments. Senior Counsel Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, instructed by attorney Dinesh Rambally, submitted on behalf of Ali that her dismissal was contrary to the policy and intention of the RHA’s Act. The NWRHA and the State defended the action. Maharaj submitted that the purpose of the RHA Act coming into being, was intended to encourage Ministry of Health employees to become absorbed into the RHAs. The authorities are therefore governed by public law in their dealings with employees, Maharaj told Justice Ventour. He submitted that Ali therefore, had a legitimate expectation to be allowed continued employment in the RHA, but not necessarily the NWRHA from where she was dismissed.

In May, Ali was informed that her position had became redundant because the post had been abolished. Though she opted to remain in the RHA, requesting that employment be sought in any of the other two regional health authorities, the Ministry of Health wrote to Ali requesting she returned to work as a pharmacist. Submitting to the judge that the manifest intention of the RHA Act was to provide primary health care, Maharaj said that the dismissal of Ali was counter to what Parliament intended in passing such legislation. That is, he added, to encourage public servants in becoming absorbed into the RHAs. Instead of finding employment in other RHAs, Maharaj submitted to Justice Ventour, the NWRHA simply left her to return to the ministry. It was purely a contractual obligation, attorney for the Health Ministry Neil Bisnath told Justice Ventour, with no underpinnings of public law. Bisnath submitted that there was no evidence that the authority acted in bad faith with Ali.