Incumbent president rejects election of new Pharmacy Board

A MEETING on Thursday at the Professional Centre, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, conducted the formalities to elect a new executive for the Pharmacy Board, but Clinton Sahadeo who was elected as new president afterwards told reporters he expected a legal challenge of the legitimacy of the proceedings by incumbent president Andrew Rahaman who was absent. Rahaman later told reporters he did not recognise the validity of the meeting nor the new executive.

Glenwayne Suchit, a pharmacist observing the meeting, told reporters this was the first meeting since the last election held in February 2022 which was won by Rahaman's slate. He said under the Pharmacy Board Act, the meeting had a quorum of members and was valid.

Suchit said those present at the meeting included Aruna Singh and Neil Singh who are Medical Board appointees plus Junia Walcott and Sahadeo – the two Ministry of Health nominees – plus outgoing secretary/treasurer Sue-Ann Joseph and Dr Adesh Lutchman. Presented as being newly-elected after the meeting were Lutchman as vice president and Walcott as secretary/treasurer.

Sahadeo told reporters, "By law it is constitutional because we followed all the procedures laid out in the board's constitution. So as far as we are concerned here, it is a legal and legitimate meeting. We just have to wait and see what the other party to this whole situation thinks about what has transpired here today."

He reckoned legal action might be tried against the day's proceedings, amid alleged reports of messages on the group's WhatsApp page trying to convince members not to attend the meeting.

Asked the new executive's priorities, Sahadeo said, "Trying to rebuild confidence in the Pharmacy Council by its membership. The second thing is to regularise all pharmacists and pharmacies by putting in all documents for 2022."

He hoped to get that done within the next 2-3 months.

Asked about claims that Rahaman was in possession of pharmacists' registration documents, Sahadeo said the new executive would write to ask him for those to be lodged at the board office.

"The second thing we'll do is call a council meeting of all ten members of the council. We have five members present today which is a quorum." Sahadeo said Rahaman had not recognised the day's meeting as legitimate and was absent with several colleagues.

"But we met. We had a council, a quorum, and we are on the way now."

Rahman later told reporters that Joseph held office by way of a roll-over process, having once been elected but never re-elected recently, and therefore she could not validly be counted as being present, suggesting the meeting may have been inquorate with just four members and the election results therefore invalid.