Published 3 August 2017
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News
PM Harris not telling the truth says Dr. Martin; the former CMO praised for his professionalism
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, AUGUST 3RD 2017 – Former Chief Medical Officer Dr. Patrick Martin is denying a statement from Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris that he has received compensation for his pre-retirement leave which was abruptly terminated recently.
Dr. Harris told WINNFM’s the Bigger Picture on Sunday: “Dr. Martin has no reasonable and rational expectation to anything other than to get the payment which was properly paid to him, and to me for him to as it were be trying to be making a political hay about this is highly irresponsible and unprofessional.”
But the prominent paediatrician in a statement Thursday said: “I wish to state categorically that to date, I have not received any monies that are due to me as a consequence of my retirement from the public service.”
Dr. Martin said that “In seeking clarification and resolution of matters pertaining to payments, I have engaged legal counsel who has written to the Chief Personnel Officer, Human Resource Management Department, Office of the Prime Minister, on two occasions, that is, 10th April 2017 and 25th July 2017.”
“To date, neither my counsel nor I have received correspondence either in acknowledgement or in response,” said Dr. Martin.
He said that the circumstances surrounding this matter have become most unfortunate and “I reserve all legal rights in relation to this matter, including in relation to any attempts to undermine my dignity as a citizen.”
Many have condemned the treatment of the former CMO and praised his professionalism.
Then Special Advisor to the Ministry of Health, Eugenie “Jean” Condor considers the punitive action taken against Dr. Martin for the Stem cell issue.
“Dr Patrick Martin made a wonderful contribution to the health sector prior to him becoming the Chief Medical Officer. We used to bring in retired people and pay quite a lot to have them here and here we had a local with the skill, the love of research and what have you, so I would like to say even at this age I was one of those persons who recommended that we use him in that capacity and he’s done an awesome job.
She listed for WINNFM some of Dr. Martin’s achievements saying that “he did quite a lot of work with PAHO on our behalf, he brought our statistics up and was able to put in place a number of programmes that we needed to have.”
In commenting on the fallout with the health authorities on the stem cell research project, Mrs. Condor said “That was painful for me, I don’t know that he did anything that he was not authorized to do. Any programme like that should be passed to the CMO and from all accounts he had no idea what was going on and so I believe he was in his right to query it and to seek to get the proper procedure in place.”
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health in Nevis, Nicole Slack Liburd while declining to comment on the shabby treatment of Dr. Martin on the stem cell controversy said he played a very influential role in the health sector.
“I had the great pleasure of working with Dr Martin for most of my career at the Ministry of Health here in my various positions from health educator all the way down to Permanent Secretary and I can say he has been critical to the growth of the Ministry of Health particularly in the areas of public health, the development of legislation and policy, sport health, health research, the establishment of partnerships with organizations such as World Paediatric Project at the University of Virginia and the list can go on and on.
“He was extremely dependable, provided sound advice on many different matters, and he was always open and available to the public as well discussing many health issues on various programmes so the public could feel at ease. I can remember in the cases of Chikungunya and Zika for example he’s been instrumental in advising the public if they should be concerned or not and what they should look for on different issues so I think he’s been an extremely valuable officer to the Ministry of Health and the country overall and his contribution has been invaluable.”.
Calvin Beach, a close confidant and supporter of Dr. Harris has described the treatment as “classless and vindictive” when the Office of the Prime Minister used two uniformed police officers to deliver the dismissal letter.
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 Dr. Harris’ Government over its handling of the illegal Stem Cell issue.
“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 the Chief Medical Officer 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.
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.”
Photo 1 – Dr. Patrick Martin
Photo 2 – Dr. Timothy Harris
