Published 1 August 2017
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News
Use of police officers to deliver termination letter to Dr. Patrick Martin is “classless and vindictive”
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JULY 29th 2017 – Kittitian Calvin Beach, a close confidant and supporter of St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris has described as “classless and vindictive” the use of two uniformed police officers to deliver a dismissal letter to Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Patrick Martin.
In a media statement on July 14th, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Patrick Martin said his instructions to “retire with immediate effect was received by way of letter delivered to me at my private residence by two police officers at around 3.30 p.m. on Friday 14th July 2017.”
“Why two policemen? Guys these policemen are required to patrol our streets. By now we should be able to dismiss an employee with much more grace. Move away from classless vindictive acts,” said Beach, a Kittitian who lives in Canada and a platform speaker of Operation Rescue. His comments were posted on the skn@yahoogroups chat list.
This is not the first time that Beach has lashed out at the Team Unity Government on the treatment meted out to Dr. Martin.
In June last year, Beach blasted the Team Unity Government over its handling of the illegal Stem Cell issue. Beach wrote on the St Kitts and Nevis Chat List that there is a disconnect between the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris, Health Minister, Eugene Hamilton, Minister of State Wendy Phipps and outgoing Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Patrick Martin.
“Based on what was said, Dr. Martin is the injured party all because he upheld the principles encoded in the Public Health Act for the benefit of the People of St. Kitts and Nevis,” said Beach, who called on Minister of Health Hamilton “to do the decent thing and admit that his actions sanctioned by the Cabinet were misplaced and wrong.”
Dr. Martin incurred the wrath of Prime Minister Harris’ Government when he was hastily sent on vacation and pre-retirement leave on June 16th 2016 when he stopped an illegal Stem Cell Research Project operating at the Private Ward of the J. N. France General Hospital on June 13th 2016, without his approval and had taken measures to bring it to an end.
Minister of Health Hon. Eugene Hamilton confirmed in an interview that a stem cell research project was underway at the JNF Hospital with Cabinet approval, but he was contradicted by Minister of State in the Ministry of Health, Sen. the Hon. Wendy Phipps who in a radio address said “neither the Ministry of Health or the JNF General Hospital is engaged in any stem cell project.”
A hospital document posted on FaceBook indicated that at a June 8th meeting of Staff Nurses and co-chaired by Matron Sonia Daley-Findlay, Director of Institutional Nursing Services, and Shirley Ferlance, Assistant Director of Institutional Nursing Services, it was discussed that “three rooms from the private ward will be used to facilitate the Regenerative Stem Cell Research which should begin Monday 13th June 2016.”
The stem cell operation involved Canadian billionaire Peter Nygard, the hard-partying retail tycoon.
Dr. Martin defended his action to close down the illegal stem cell operation “because the Medical Act which is responsible for registering and licensing doctors to practice in the Federation was violated by a doctor coming from outside the Federation who was associated with the stem cell therapy entity that was operating at the JNF Private Ward. As Chief Medical Officer and Chair of the Medical Board which registers and licenses medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists et al, I was duty bound to ensure that the laws of the Federation were upheld, and that’s what I did.”
