Thursday, July 23 2009

Dr Steve Smith last evening insisted he has not been removed as president of the Medical Council.

“That is nonsense,” he said in a telephone interview last night, in response to Health Minister Jerry Narace’s statement in Parliament that he had been replaced by Dr Zulaika Ali.

When Newsday called at Dr Ali’s home last evening, a man who answered said Dr Ali was seeing a patient and would not have been available for some time. Smith, however, said he would be happy to relinquish his post for someone with integrity, “who had the best interest of the council at heart.”

“All this politics is over my head,” he added, but did not elaborate.

During debate on the Medical Board (Amendment) Bill 2009, Narace said the announcement of Smith’s removal as president was made at a special meeting of the council.

However, Smith said that under the Medical Board Act, he was the only person who could convene a meeting to discuss changes to the executive structure of the council.

He revealed, though, that secretary of the council Dr Neil Singh had a meeting yesterday, “to get me out of office.”

“Singh wanted to push his no-confidence stupidness,” Smith said. “He is just overly ambitious.”

NARACE NARACE fron Page 5A



On July 8, Singh filed a no-confidence motion against Smith during a meeting of the council. Smith walked out of that meeting and the matter was again raised yesterday. Last week, a special extraordinary meeting was held to discuss the bill, which gives the Government to authority to set up a parallel board to license Cuban doctors. Smith had been highly critical of the plan, and he and Singh’s names were called in Parliament by both Government and Opposition members. Government members had claimed Smith met with Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh and Caroni Central MP Hamza Rafeeq in an attempt to block the plan to license Cuban doctors.

Prior to Narace’s announcement that he had been voted out of the council, Smith admitted that he and other members did meet with Gopeesingh “about three weeks ago” to discuss the Government’s move to register Cuban doctors.

However, Smith made it clear that he did not support the move.

“Absolutely not. That is rubbish,” he said of the plan.Narace had alleged in the Parliament that Smith and other members of the council had met with Gopeesingh and Rafeeq to “plot” ways to frustrate the Government’s plan. Smith said the meeting, at Gopeesingh’s urging, was organised “to exchange ideas with members of the council.”

He added that there was nothing clandestine about the discussions. Smith claimed Rafeeq was not at the meeting. Contacted yesterday Singh said he was very busy seeing patients, but a statement would be issued today.