Chatoorgoon takes over but stays home

FOR THE second day after assuming the office of Acting Medical Chief of Staff at the San Fernando General Hospital, Dr Anand Chatoorgoon has had to supervise activities at the hospital from his San Fernando home.

Contacted yesterday, Dr Chatoorgoon said while the appointment was not entirely unexpected, it came “quite suddenly” and he had not been furnished with keys to the Medical Chief of Staff’s offices at the hospital complex. “The situation should be resolved by today,” he said, adding that none of the MTS security personnel on duty had keys to the offices. However, Dr Chatoorgoon said he had instructed staff at the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department that no patients should be transferred to private institutions without permission from the Chief of Staff.

“Some doctors have returned to work, and as for now we are ensuring the public receives the best possible treatment available,” he said. Chatoorgoon reiterated his call for a swift end to the impasse between doctors and the RHA’s saying all options needed to be explored for the benefit of a public deserving of quality health care from its health institutions. Chatoorgoon assumed duties at the Hospital as Acting Medical Chief of Staff on Saturday evening after Dr Austin Trinidade acceded to the Health Ministry’s request to proceed on 226 days of compensatory leave. Meanwhile negotiations between doctors and the RHA’s are expected to continue this week.