Garth Rattray | Is declaration of assets necessary for government doctors?

I know that no one is above the law. Therefore, relevant individuals must comply with The Integrity Commission Act (2017). However, I am somewhat peeved at the fate of the doctors who are hauled up for their sins of omission.

Doctors who are full-time or part-time employees of the Ministry of Health and Wellness fall within the group of public servants who are required to submit an annual declaration of assets once their annual salaries exceed $3.5 million. But the procedure for submitting assets is far from simple.

First, the Information and Compliance Division of the Integrity Commission makes available the “Instructions For Filing Statutory Declaration Of Assets, Liabilities, And Income”. This 12-page document takes pains to outline the relevant section of The Integrity Commission Act (2017). It defines “public officials”, “spouse”, and “child”. It makes clear the need to file an initial, annual, and final Statutory Declaration, when to file, where to file, what to file, the offences, and then details of how to fill out the Statutory Declaration Form.

Detailed

The form is extremely detailed and demands that the declaration include detailed bank statements (with supporting evidence), cash held otherwise by the declarant, spouse and children, property, investments, bonds, stocks, house(s), land, farm building(s), mortgage(s), business venture(s), crops, livestock, motor vehicle(s) owned, hired or on loan, safety deposit boxes, intricate and intimate details of insurance policies, any other property owned, other property in trust or otherwise, detailed income and allowances, particulars of liabilities including guarantees, property acquired or disposed of, particulars of any gifts, and particulars of debt forgiveness. All of the above apply to the declarant, spouse, and children, and must be witnessed by a justice of the peace.

The process is tedious and demanding. I can see where anyone already burdened with saving lives and/or working beyond the normal working hours would find it demanding to dedicate all that time and effort to the form. When in public healthcare, many doctors must work extra-long shifts. It must be very difficult for them to complete the requisite Declaration of Assets form.

Extraordinary.

The mental and physical demands placed on doctors are extraordinary. So in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was added stress placed on healthcare workers, seven doctors were arrested, jailed, and fined for “Failure to File Statutory Declarations”. I felt very sympathetic towards them. And more recently, five doctors ran afoul of the law and are currently in trouble.

However, the law is the law, and ignorance of the law is no excuse. But has anyone taken a good look at that law? Is it fit for purpose? Or does it broad-brush all public-sector employees, including those to whom the law should not apply?

The Integrity Commission Act (2017) is intended to “… enhance public confidence that acts of corruption and impropriety committed by persons exercising public functions will be appropriately investigated and dealt with in a manner which achieves transparency, accountability, and fairness”. To that end, The act begins with this explanatory statement: “An Act to promote and enhance standards of ethical conduct for parliamentarians, public officials, and other persons by consolidating laws relating to the prevention of corruption and the award, monitoring, and investigating of government contracts and prescribed licences and to provide for the Establishment of a single body to be known as the Integrity Commission to promote and strengthen the measures for the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of acts of corruption: to repeal the Parliament (Integrity of Members) Act and to provide for other related matters”.

The Declaration of Assets form speaks for itself. Simply put, it seeks detailed information on all your stuff and all the stuff belonging to your spouse and children. It is obviously meant to ascertain if you might have benefited from financial corruption. Doctors working in the public-health system are not in any position to influence, award, or benefit from any government contract. As already stated, the intent of the Integrity Commission Act is to address matters “relating to the prevention of corruption and the award, monitoring, and investigating of government contracts and prescribed licences”.

Those things do not fall within the purview of public-sector doctors. It may surprise many to learn that public-sector doctors do not have total or even direct control over patient admission. The capabilities of the healthcare facility, availability of beds, and nurses running the wards control those circumstances. In fact, many years ago, the public healthcare sector was reorganised so that it is impossible for any doctor, at any level, to in any way care for his/her private patients with the help of any public-sector facility. Clinic appointments may sometimes vary depending on the urgency of the situation. However, having seen extremely ill patients given clinic appointments for over one year’s time, it is obvious that the doctors have little say in the matter.

The Integrity Commission Act (2017) should not apply to doctors who are employed as healthcare providers in the public sector. Their positions do not afford them the possibility or opportunity of being corrupted. Doctors should be exempt from this act because in their capacity, it is not only distracting, tedious, and stressful, it is unfair, superfluous ,and puts them at unnecessary risk for prosecution.

- Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com