The Medical Research Foundation (MRF) and its director, Professor Courtenay Bartholomew, have called for the immediate resignation of the council of the Trinidad and Tobago Medical Board.
The board, whose president is Professor Surujpal Teelucksingh, is accused of “dilly-dallying” in investigating a doctor who is suspected of prescribing wrong drugs to AIDS patients, two of whom have died. The doctor is employed by the Ministry of Health.
The doctor’s refusal to make available the medical records of at least 11 patients, who have requested these records be sent to the MRF for a second opinion, has also been described by Bartholomew as a breach of the basic rules of medical ethics and detrimental to the lives of the patients and the cause of the spread of drug-resistant viruses in their communities.
The matter has also been reported to Minister of Health, Dr Fuad Khan, who has also received a letter of complaint about the particular doctor from the Trinidad and Tobago Network of People living with HIV/AIDS.
In a statement calling for the resignation of the Medical Council, the MRF has noted that since January 10, 2011, they had complained to the council about the refusal of the doctor to respond to the written requests of 11 very ill AIDS patients who had been treated by him, and who asked him to send their medical records to the MRF for a second opinion.
The doctor reportedly ignored all the requests, which were necessary to confirm or deny the “most appalling medical histories” reported by the patients, the MRF said in its statement.
What the patients reported to the MRF suggested that they had been treated with the wrong drugs, which eventually progressively worsened their conditions. According to the MRF, several of the patients were nearly at death’s door and at least two of them have since died.
Newsday
