‘WRHA has no right to suspend anyone’

WESTERN BUREAU:

FOLLOWING REPORTS that a senior neurosurgeon has been charged for reportedly punching a colleague during an altercation over the weekend, noted medical expert Dr Christopher Ogunsalu is warning that the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) could be sued if it does not reinstate the neurosurgeon.

“This is a criminal matter, and we know that the Jamaican Constitution allows for someone who is alleged to have assaulted someone else to be given a chance, which is his constitutional right, to be tried before he is found guilty. The WRHA do not have the right or authority to suspend any of them,” Ogunsalu said while speaking to The Gleaner on Tuesday concerning the alleged incident.

“The WRHA does not know whether there was imminent fear in the doctor for him to hit somebody,” Ogunsalu added.

The surgeon and his colleague reportedly got into a heated confrontation at the Falmouth Public General Hospital on Sunday, December 11, over the use of hospital resources to perform a surgery. The situation escalated when the surgeon, who is said to have since been interdicted from duty, allegedly punched the other doctor in the mouth.

Ogunsalu cited a similar incident which took place in the Cayman Islands last month, where two physicians were reported to have come to blows over a medical disagreement. That incident was reported by the Cayman Marl Road newsletter on November 20 and December 1.

“Two doctors in the Cayman Islands last month assaulted each other in the hospital, but there was no issue about somebody being arrested or fired. That is the least that can happen (in this case in Jamaica), but if that does not happen, it does not mean that a governmental body will fire a doctor because the doctor is alleged to have done something,” said Ogunsalu.

“It is a judge and jury who will decide whether this doctor committed a crime, so nobody can judge the situation now. How do you know the trial will not take three years? Suppose, as a defendant, he is found not guilty? Then you as a governmental body are going to pay him that three-year salary, as well as pay for his embarrassment, and a lot of other things, so I do not think they have the authority to fire him,” Ogunsalu added.

When contacted for an update on the matter on Tuesday, the WRHA’s public relations spokesperson, Mexine Bisasor, said the entity was not prepared to comment on the situation at this time.

“The matter is being investigated both internally and externally, so we cannot comment on it at this time, as we do not have the verified or verifiable facts. By Friday (December 16), we should have some updates on it,” Bisasor told The Gleaner.

Deputy Superintendent of Police in charge of Trelawny, Winston Milton, was likewise not willing to comment on the case when contacted by The Gleaner.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com