Rahael: Medical interns not being denied work

HEALTH MINISTER John Rahael yesterday said the Medical Professionals Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MPATT) was “making a mountain of a molehill” by claiming that local medical interns were being denied work at local hospitals. Regarding the unemployment of five interns from the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) Medical Faculty, which MPATT used to build its case, Rahael said all five should be employed within the next week.

In a release, acting MPATT president Dr Lakhan Roop said out of a total of ten interns who graduated from UWI’s Medical Faculty in July, “to date five of these interns still remain unemployed.” Roop claimed the Health Ministry was acting irresponsibly by denying local interns employment at TT’s hospitals, while using Cuban and United Nations Volunteer doctors to fill vacancies in the health sector. He also alleged that in June, eight Dominican interns who graduated from Cuba were employed as interns at the Health Ministry “to the disadvantage of our own citizens.”