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28th June 2024

Dear Board Member,

As you may recall a Special General Meeting was requisitioned by a group of Board Members (the group) to consider what the Council deciphers to be Referendum and Resolutions relative to proposed amendments to the Medical Board Act. This Special General Meeting was fixed for the 25th June 2024 at the Amphitheatre A, Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Uriah Butler Highway, Champs Fleurs from 6.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. to take place physically and online via Zoom under the hybrid system.

All members duly registered and licensed under the Medical Board Act and in good financial standing were invited to attend. Physically present at the Special General Meeting were Members of Council and 24 Board Members. More than 250 Board Members attended via Zoom.

As you are aware at previous meetings, the proposed amendments to the Medical Board Act had been introduced, in addition to updated guidelines and regulations on who should be a Specialist (the Medical Specialist Register - MSR) and mandatory Continued Professional Development (CPD). Despite being tabled for noting at the Special General Meeting held on the 6th day of March, 2024, the proposed amendments to the Act had been rejected by Board Members, as well as the draft Regulations which were laid for approval.

Following the outcome of the Special General Meeting, Committees comprising both Council and volunteered Board Members were then established to review these matters and put forward new proposals for the Board’s consideration via an incremental and wide consultative process. This notwithstanding, the group requested their concerns relative to the then proposed amendments to the Act be ventilated by the Board at the Special General Meeting, rather than at the Committee that was established to address proposed amendments to the Act. As a result, the Council received various documents from the group which it circulated to the Board prior to the Special General Meeting, as best as it possibly could given that there were various revised versions.

The meeting began just after 6.00 p.m. with a welcome and introduction of the speakers by the Secretary of the Council Mr. Ian Ramnarine. The President of Council, Dr. Neil Singh next gave the background to the Proposed Amendments to the Medical Board Act. The process had commenced some five (5) years earlier, and gone through committee stages (comprising Members of Council and Board Members). Dr. Singh also expressed that this method chosen by the group was wrong, as it served to bypass the work of the Committee established for this said purpose and thereby circumventing due process.

Dr. Singh contribution was followed by a prepared response given by Dr. Rajiv Seereeram on behalf of the group. The concerns expressed centered on the Council not being open with Board Members, about the rationale used to determine the proposed changes. Board Members thereafter made their respective and valuable contributions from the floor, the majority of which were not in agreement not only with the approach by the group, but also the fundamental changes which were being advocated. Dr. Singh asked the group to consider withdrawing the Referendum, in view of the number of irregularities identified and explore the issues identified by discussion at a committee level.

Mr. Shankar Bidaisee, the Law Association’s Representative on the Council of the Medical Board of Trinidad and Tobago then addressed Board Members. Mr. Bidaisee is also the head of the Medical Board Act Review Committee on which Dr. Seereeram also sits. He presented the current status of the Committees deliberations. He informed that the approach of the Committee as agreed is to, inter alia, obtain feedback from Board Members through a continuous and structured consultative process to thoroughly consider the proposed Amendments and comprehensively review the Act. Mr. Bidaisee informed that the Committee was the appropriate forum to consider what is being raised at the Special General Meeting and assured that the items of concern would be considered by the Committee. He outlined that the goal is to have a comprehensive review of the Medical Board Act that satisfies and meets the approval of Board Members.

Following the discussions at the Special General Meeting and by invitation of Dr. Neil Singh, Dr. David Strisiver announced that the Referendum put forward by the group was withdrawn to allow the Committee to do its work. This withdrawal was adopted by Board Members.

The meeting was closed by the Inter-religious Organisation Representative to the Council, Pandit Lloyd Mukram Sirjoo who applauded the manner in which the business of the Council and Board was conducted.

The meeting was concluded ahead of the allotted time at 7:45 pm.

SGD. Mr. Ian Ramnarine
Secretary of the Council
MEDICAL BOARD OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

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