Wednesday, July 4 2012

THE EDITOR: The experienced and dedicated staff of the Medical Research Foundation (MRF) look after as many as 6,500 patients to date in addition to their research work and we are grateful for their help and empathy. We have written to the Minister of Health, Dr Fuad Khan since April with no satisfactory response and we were shocked at his reaction to the concern expressed publicly by Professor Courtenay Bartholomew over the long time being taken by the Medical Board to discipline a certain doctor from central Trinidad, who refuses to respond to our colleagues’ requests to send details of their medical records to the MRF.

We have read literature from the General Medical Council of England, which stresses that this matter should be handled expeditiously by the Medical Board since patients’ lives depend on these referrals. In fact, almost all these patients were found to be in late stage disease, because they were being treated wrongly by this doctor for years. We agree that this is a matter of public health importance and must be made public and we see this delaying tactic as a new form of discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients.

We agree with the editorial in Newsday of Tuesday July 3, 2012 and feel that this could not happen in any other country in the world and that the Medical Board seems to be much more interested in protecting doctors rather than patients. Were it not for stigmatisation and discrimination, which still exist here, we would be prepared to march in protest but I am sure we can get hundreds of our colleagues to sign a letter of concern with their initials only. HIV/AIDS is a disease which can be treated and if properly done and monitored we can live long lives and be virus free. This dilly-dallying of the Medical Council affects our lives and livelihood.



Ms Natasha Hosein-Ali

President, Women Advocating for Change