PRIVATE nursing homes in South Trinidad will be accepting only emergencies from public hospitals because they are unable to cope with the increased number of patients due to the ongoing impasse between the doctors and the Regional Health Authorities (RHAs).
“They have stated that their nursing homes were not designed, whether by infrastructure, equipment and staffing, to deal with the increased patient load that they have been forced to deal with,” the Medical Professionals Association of TT (MPATT) said in a media release yesterday. Major hospitals in Trinidad and Tobago (San Fernando, Port-of-Spain and Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex) have been functioning in emergency mode due to a shortage of junior doctors. This caused the North and South-West Regional Health Authorities to transfer patients to private facilities.
Negotiations between the doctors’ representative, MPATT and Joint Regional Health Authority negotiating team have virtually ground to a halt with a date yet to be fixed for another meeting. The last time the two parties met was on April 17. Representatives from private institutions along with doctors from the RHAs and Ministry met with MPATT yesterday at the San Fernando General Hospital about the current health impasse. MPATT said private facilities have tried their best to facilitate patients from public hospitals but “they can no longer do so without compromising quality patient care”. Private facilities are also concerned because the associated medico-legal risks with critically ill patients are unacceptably high.
Doctors at the meeting expressed dissatisfaction at the RHAs’ failure to hold further meetings to resolve the present health crisis. They accused the Administration of willingly sacrificing the health of the nation with their unacceptable and recalcitrant position in refusing to return to the bargaining table. MPATT said the public is willing to vilify doctors on a daily basis and blame them for all the ills at public health institutions while the Administration continues to underspend and ignore the health sector. “The doctors have been used by the Administration as scapegoats for far too long.” Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Commit-tee, Minister of Public Administration Lenny Saith was also criticised for reneging on a promise that the JNT and government would treat with the doctors professionally and in good faith.
THE JURors in the Clint Huggins murder trial were told yesterday by defence attorney Keith Scotland not to behave like ancient Roman governor Pontius Pilate who allowed Christ to be crucified knowing him to be innocent.
Scotland’s remarks came during his closing address to the 12-member jury in the Port-of-Spain Third Criminal Court. The jurors will decide the fate of three men – Arnold Huggins, his cousin Leslie Huggins and friend Junior “Heads” Phillip – who are charged with the murder of Clint Huggins.
Scotland, who represents Leslie Huggins, told the jury: “Don’t be a Pontius Pilate and wash your hands and say you’re going to convict. You must not be influenced by anybody telling you yea or nay.” He told the jury if they focused on the evidence and forgot any bias, they would have no trouble in finding Leslie not guilty. He said there were too many inconsistencies in the State’s case to be sure of guilt and the jury should therefore return a not guilty verdict in favour of Leslie Huggins. Scotland further submitted that the only evidence against Leslie Huggins was the testimony of his common-law-wife Swarsattie Maharaj and he suggested that her evidence was destroyed under cross-examination. “You must believe Leslie when he said it never happened,” Scotland said.
He said it was not inconceivable that Clint left the army’s custody and went on his own agenda, that “he wanted to escape. “Look at the trouble he went through – jumping out of an army jeep and running down a maxi taxi. Didn’t Clint really have his own plan when he borrowed the Laurel to go on his own mission? If he just wanted to see Leslie he could have asked the army to take him as they did before. No! He had his own mission.” Scotland was the second attorney to address the jury. Ian Stuart Brooks, who represents Arnold Huggins, made his address on Monday.
Today, when hearing resumes, Osbourne Charles SC, who represents Phillip, will make his remarks to the jury, which are expected to last a day. Then trial judge Justice Alice Yorke Soo-Hon, will call on prosecutor Wayne Rajbansie to give his summation. The trio are alleged to have accepted a $3 million contract to kill Clint Huggins, a key witness against Dole Chadee and his gang for murder. Huggins was killed during the early morning of Carnival Tuesday, February 20, 1996, on the Uriah Butler Highway, Mt Hope.
A HIGH Court Judge has ordered Dr Austin Trinidade and specialist doctor Charlie Bridgelal to pay legal costs to Dr Anand Chatoorgoon.
Trinidade, medical director of the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH), appointed Bridgelal to replace Chatoorgoon as the hospital’s Head of Department of Anaesthetics when the latter was suspended by the Public Services Commission in October 1998.
In March 2001, Chatoorgoon was reinstated as the senior anaesthetist. Thereafter he wrote to Trinidade and Bridgelal requesting that he be re-appointed to the post. He contended that according to established practice, the most senior person acts as head and he was senior to Bridgelal. But Bridgelal continued to act while Chatoorgoon worked under his supervision. The issue was clarified by the acting Principal Medical Officer of Health last month in a memorandum to all medical chiefs of staff. It advised that the most senior doctors be appointed to head departments. However, Chatoorgoon still was not appointed. Last month Justice Joseph Tam, presiding in the Second Civil Court, San Fernando, granted Chatoorgoon leave to file for judicial review of Trinidade’s decision in not facilitating his re-appointment.
Trindade and Bridgelal were named as respondents in the action. Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, and attorney Ricky Harnanan, instructed by Sunil Gopaul-Gosine, represented Chatoorgoon. When hearing of the matter came up yesterday before Justice Tam in the San Fernando High Court, two attorneys from the office of the Solicitor General, Krishendeo Narinesingh and Marsha Rampersad, represented Trinidade and Bridgelal.
Maharaj told Justice Tam that Bridgelal had since relinquished the post of Head of Department and Trinidade had appointed Chatoorgoon. He requested that the judge either make a declaration or deem the continuation of the case as purely an academic exercise. If the judge was so minded, Maharaj said, he would not pursue a claim for damages but would seek an order that the respondents pay Chatoorgoon’s legal costs. Narinesingh indicated to the judge that he was neither agreeing nor disagreeing to costs. The judge ordered the respondent doctors to pay costs. Chatoorgoon was present in court but Trinidade and Bridgelal were not.
LEGAL AFFAIRS Minister Camille Robinson-Regis said “it was now too late to patent the steelpan”, but that further inventions involving the steelpan were being examined to see if it can be protected by the Intellectual Properties (IP) Act.
Robinson-Regis was addressing persons at a seminar on “Intellectual Property for Journalists” at Registration House yesterday when she made this statement. Explaining that the laws of IP conferred certain IP rights to the creator or owner of any area of intellectual property, and also allowed them to benefit from their creations, the Minister said the original inventors of the pan did not patent it, thus making it too late now. Additionally, the various laws also confers on the owner of the IP work financial rights for specific periods of time provided the conditions applicable to the specific law are met.
Stating that IP affected all aspects of daily life and was a significant tool in economic development, Robinson-Regis said it provided recourse and protection for the creative efforts of researchers, entrepreneurs and corporations. She said it was the Ministry’s duty to provide the media with information on the basic tenets of IP rights in general, as well as demonstrate the international implications of the system. She added that it would foster wider discussions on IP in Trinidad and Tobago. Intellectual property refers to expressed creations of the mind, inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names and images used in commerce. It consists of two main branches – copyright and industrial property.
Copyright consists of literary and artistic works including dramatic works, music, writings, sculptures, performances, broadcast and production of CD. Industrial property consists of patents which protect technological advances used in science; industrial designs and trademarks which protect symbols, names and images used in commerce; and geographical indications which distinguish one product from another. Robinson-Regis revealed that the Legal Affairs Ministry was pursuing discussions with the Ministry of Education to introduce IP information into the school’s curriculum. The IP Office of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, in conjunction with the World IP Organisation (WIPO), and the US government will co-host a seminar to prepare teachers to implement IP into the curriculum in September.
Similar seminars are being held for the Judiciary, various Chambers of Commerce, the TTMA, Sixth Form students and other research institutions, Robinson-Regis said. She expressed hope that through these seminars there would be accurate reporting in the print and electronic media, and urged journalists to assume their role in bringing IP to the general public. She concluded by stating that the government remained committed to ensuring that IP laws were effectively implemented.
SCORES of squatters at Race Course Road Development, Arima, breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when a High Court Judge granted an injunction against the Director of Surveys in the Ministry of Housing and Settlements, barring their eviction from the lands.
Justice Peter Jamadar, presiding in the First Civil Court, San Fernando, granted the squatters leave to apply for judicial review of a decision by the Director to evict them. The action was filed by Ava Simon, Angela Logan and Anthony Mundroy on behalf of the squatters. In an application filed by Garnet Mungalsingh instructing Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, the squatters said they had been occupying State lands for as much as 13 years. In January they were served with notices ordering them to give up possession of the land. The notice threatened them with eviction if they did not remove themselves from the lands.
The squatters contended that they had a legitimate expectation that the State would allow them to continue to live on the lands. In arguing the application, Maharaj submitted that the State cannot evict persons in order to get possession of the land. It must seek a court order, he said, moreso when houses are constructed on the lands. Justice Jamadar granted leave and fixed hearing of the case on May 19. A similar action on behalf of several squatters of Torouba Village, near San Fernando, was argued three months ago before Justice Nolan Bureaux. Judgment in that matter is yet to be delivered.
BWIA management and unions are continuing to meet on salary cuts but one union leader is saying the unions are being forced into the move.
Management announced a range of salary cuts last week and has said it will take effect from May 1. That means that employees’ April salaries will not be affected. Salary reviews are among the conditions for Government’s $116.8 million bailout of the airline. “Basically we’re operating under duress,” president of the Aviation Communication and Allied Workers Union (ACAWU) Christopher Abraham said. Union representatives met with employees yesterday afternoon to discuss the cuts.
Both sides are now discussing proposals submitted by management. Abraham while the cuts seem to be definite, under industrial relations practices, the union leaders are bound to take part in the talks. If not, they could be seen as refusing to “meet and treat” with the issue. Last week union leaders claimed the move to cut salaries was illegal. They said under the collective bargaining agreements, management must “meet and agree” with unions before a decision to cut wages is made. At that time they said they could not take any action through the Industrial Court before salaries are cut and complaints made by employees. BWIA communications director Clint Williams declined to comment, saying the issue was under negotiation.
A FISH vendor armed himself with his cutlass and fought back three gunmen who invaded his home early yesterday morning. Police said Ramcharan Partap, 30, managed to fend off his attackers, protecting his property and family.
At around 1.30 am, Partap was at his home at Bay Road, Othaheite, when he heard a banging on his door, and shouts of “Police”. As the vendor moved towards his front door it broke down and a masked man wearing an orange coverall, pointed a pistol at him. Partap took up a cutlass and started firing chops at his attacker. Within moments, Partap said, two other men in masks and orange coveralls, stormed in. One of them, who had a shot gun, threatened Partap. Partap raised an alarm, while firing chops at his attackers. Partap’s assailants ran out of the house without taking anything. PC Antoine of the Oropouche Police Station is continuing investigations.
WE REMEMBER President George Bush’s categorical declaration that America had no interest in Iraq beyond the toppling of the Saddam Hussein regime and destruction of the stockpile of weapons of mass destruction which, he claimed, the dictator had kept hidden since the Gulf War twelve years ago. After a massive and pulverising invasion, US and British forces have achieved Bush’s first objective. After several weeks of occupation, the combined troops have found no cache of mass-killing weapons. Essentially then, his assault on Iraq has accomplished its purpose, the terrorist threat which Saddam was seen to have presented has been violently snuffed out and the Iraqi people have been freed from the stranglehold of a brutal dictator, so why does Mr Bush not prove true to his word and order the so-called “coalition forces” out of Iraq, letting the United Nations take over the task of reconstructing the country?
We ask the question rhetorically, of course, since no perceptive observer would be so gullible to believe that the US President was genuine in the altruistic reasons he so glibly trotted out for public consumption. A knowledge of US foreign policy with its relentless and opportunistic self-seeking interest, the unchallenged superpower might that the US now wields coupled with the fundamentalist conservative philosophy that drives the Bush administration would have suggested otherwise — that the US president had a different agenda in mind when he and his war hawks in Washington conceived and launched this uncaring and destructive attack on Iraq. As we predicted, the real purpose of the invasion is already becoming clear. Mr Bush has sent a retired army general to preside over the formation of an interim Iraqi administration, a move which has been interpreted, not unjustifiably, by a majority of the Iraqi people as an attempt to set up a puppet regime. Their fears are bolstered by the US choosing of a long-exiled Iraqi to take part in this process, a man who enjoys little or no credibility within the country and, in fact, is viewed by many as “an outsider.”
The need expressed by many respected commentators to enlist the vast experience of the United Nations to assist in this reconstruction exercise has been summarily rejected by the Bush regime. Although the US president had prescribed “a vital role” for the UN in this rebuilding task, it now seems that what he had in mind was a sub-contracting function for the UN in handing out humanitarian aid to the suffering Iraqi population. It seems that the UN will have no say, no input, no control over the process of creating a democratic administration for that battered country which, again, will provoke widespread suspicion in the minds of many Iraqis. Indeed, an odd, if not amusing, conflict has arisen between the clamour of a majority of Iraqis for the US forces to get out of the country and the determination of the Bush administration to maintain the occupation in order to accede to the wishes of the people for democratic change.
Meanwhile, multi-million-dollar contracts are being dished out to US companies for reconstruction work in the country which the US forces have virtually destroyed. As for the continuing search for weapons of mass destruction, the Bush regime has again contemptuously slapped down the United Nations by ruling out any resumption of the mission which the UN weapons inspectors had been conducting when the misconceived invasion was launched. The US forces have taken over the search, regardless of its credibility gap. An allegedly Christian president, backed by an allegedly Christian nation, has brutalised a country on the basis of a lie, killing thousands of innocent people, including women and children. As the world’s only superpower, they can continue to brazen it out, for their own interest.
The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (Trinidad & Tobago), the only legitimate national Hindu voice has once again brought objections to the nation’s highest award — the Trinity Cross. The government this month invited national awards nominations. The Secretary General of the SDMS, Shri Satnarayan Maharaj, in response has called on members of the public to refuse to submit nominations for the national awards. The SDMS has been making this call to change the nation’s highest award for years across a series of successive political administrations clearly indicating that the objection against the Trinity Cross cuts across all political lines.
The substantial issue remains that the nation has to be equitable and that no citizen or groups within our society made to feel like second-class citizens. The Trinity Cross disregards all non-Christians and Tobagonians annually. In particular no Hindu will ever accept the Trinity Cross. Of course there is the likelihood a Hindu collaborator who will perhaps accept a cross for a “cap, a gown, and a mess of pottage”.
SWAHA’s PNM Senator Manideo Persad only a few months ago lamented in the Senate that the Trinity Cross should be changed. Ironically Senator Persad spoke as an Opposition Senator forgetting that he belonged to the ruling party and was indeed in a position to make the change. Or was it that SWAHA’s Senator Persad, like most Indians and Hindus in the PNM, have no real power do anything of real substance and are merely window dressing? Despite the earlier lamentations, SWAHA’s PNM Senator, Persad, in responding to the call to boycott the Trinity Cross nominations by the SDMS stated: “We can’t expect change overnight because there are so many other pressing matters” and called for “less confrontation and more dialogue”.
Dr Wahid Ali — a Muslim — refused to accept the Trinity Cross in the 1970s and only accepted it when then Prime Minister Eric Williams promised to change the Cross in the future. Williams, once having stated that Indians were a “hostile and recalcitrant minority”, it was no surprise the promised change never came. In 1995 the Dharmacharya of Trinidad & Tobago, Pundit Krishna Maharaj, refused to accept the Trinity Cross from the Manning administration.
In 1997 an independent and impartial National Awards Committee, chaired by Trinidad & Tobago’s Chief Justice Micheal de la Bastide, recommended that the Trinity Cross be renamed to the more inclusive title of The Order of Trinidad & Tobago. The Committee’s report noted that “the Trinity Cross…was perceived as a Christian symbol” in this multi-religious society. The recommendations of the Committee renewed the faith of the Maha Sabha that there are some individuals in society that are not blinded by sectarian interests. SWAHA’s PNM Senator Pundit Persad obviously is ignorant of the fact that this “overnight” objection has been on the national agenda for over two decades. How much more “patience” and “dialogue” must the Hindu community endure before an effective change is made? Last year during the throes of the historic 18-18 hung parliament, the Prime Minister Patrick Manning boldly gave an undertaking to seriously look at the issue of changing the name of the Trinity Cross to a more acceptable national award. Now without a hung parliament to force an appeal to the Hindu and Muslim voters, the elected Prime Minister Patrick Manning stated “it is very unlikely that will happen this year, very unlikely”.
Prime Minister Manning also noted that “it was very interesting that Mr Panday, who was very vocal against the Trinity Cross, in his six years as Prime Minister, never touched it. One of the things I would like to do before touching it myself is to find out why. ..We will adjust it yes, but before we do it, let’s look. We do not jump precipitately into these matters. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” One has to wonder if Prime Minister Manning’s actions are being guided by what former Prime Minister Panday did or did not do rather than what is “morally and spiritually” correct. SWAHA’s PNM Senator Persad revealed that the PNM perhaps is not changing the Trinity Cross due to ignorance on how it can be changed. Speaking on behalf of the PNM Administration Pundit Persad stated, “we were not sure of the mechanisms required to effect this change.”
Support for renaming the Trinity Cross comes also from the President of the Inter-Religious Organisation, Brother Noble Khan. Brother Khan stated that “the time was now right to make a name change” and suggested that The Order of Trinidad & Tobago should be the new name. Brother Khan explained that the Cross “has been aligned by many people in the country as a biased symbol, while substantial sections of our population would like something more neutral and acceptable.” The President of the IRO in his comments sees what the Prime Minister and SWAHA’s PNM Senator refused to see. Brother Khan observed that if the award was not changed the “bitterness” among the population would remain.
Of course Brother Khan assumes that persons in government and the ruling party care about the bitterness of Indians and Hindus. It concerns the Prime Minister Manning to “correct the historical imbalances” of those who have not in the past had access to begin their own business and indeed entrepreneurship — the rationale for CEPEP —. Yet the Prime Minister and SWAHA Senator remain unmoved with the concerns of the historical bias against Indians and Hindus. Given the track record of PNM Prime Ministers on the Trinity Cross and on matters concerning Indians and Hindus, it is predictable that the Trinity Cross will continue to be a burden on all non-Christians for decades to come.
The Editor: In a recent letter to the press Jude Gonsalves presents extraordinary data. “Of 100 times the condom is used to prevent pregnancies, it fails 33 times [Allan Guttmaker Institute], or with my figures 17 times.”
These figures give one time in three and one in six, respectively. Taking Jude Gonsalves figure, this means that, on average, if a heterosexual couple uses condoms on six occasions to prevent pregnancy, then the woman will become pregnant. Most couples who want children, take several months, of active love making before the woman conceives. I am sure that Jude Gonsalves figures contradict those in his original sources. If his grasp of mathematical logic is so poor, perhaps he should refrain from writing letters to the press that contain any numerical data.
Jude Gonsalves repeats the point that Christine Gonsalves has raised in the press. They claim that one reason condoms fail is because they have holes in them. However, condoms do not leak when filled with water, and sperms and human immunodeficiency viruses are at least 1000 times larger than a water molecule. Jude Gonsalves also writes “Uganda has been successful in reducing AIDS. Why are we allowing the condom industry to slowly kill us?” The Uganda Aids Commission are promoting behaviour change and safe sex, which comprise “Abstinence, Fidelity and Condom” (aidsuganda.org/practical_info.htm). Part of their budget went towards buying condoms.
At least in Uganda, the condom industry seems to be helping to save lives. How much longer do we have to wait before our government follows in the footsteps of the Uganda Aids Commission and actively promotes condom use to save lives in Trinidad and Tobago? This could easily be done in school and via television.
Nigel Gains,
Maraval
