11 January

Sticky

Tobago Chamber: New ferries will increase domestic travel

The Tobago Business Chamber is hoping the addition of the APT James and Buccoo Reef to the seabridge will boost consumer confidence. The APT James arrived in TT on Friday and the Buccoo Reef is expected at the end of the month. The chamber’s president Martin George said on Saturday passengers should have easy access to the fast ferries. “We look forward to what we have always referred to as the double redundancy,” he said in a WhatsApp voice note. “In other words, we want a situation to be such that anyone can wake up any morning and simply head down to either of...

09 January

0 Comments

Sticky

Trinidad: Doctor fired for creating panic

Posted by site_admin

in Newspaper Articles

The day before she was fired as Scarborough General Hospital’s Medical Chief of Staff, Dr Rufaro Celestine sent a legal letter to the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA), questioning the conduct of the authority’s CEO Sheldon Cyrus in relation to an e-mail she had written, two weeks ago, expressing concern about the shortage of medical staff at the hospital. In the e-mail which was leaked on social media, Celestine suggested the hospital should be placed in emergency mode as a result of the lack of specialist doctors. The former medical chief of staff, through her attorneys, Martin George & Co, sent a...

07 January

0 Comments

Sticky

Medical Board: Sawh probe in lawyers’ hands

Posted by site_admin

in Newspaper Articles

HEAD of the Council of the Medical Board Dr Lesley-Ann Roberts says the investigation into complaints about Dr Avinash Sawh’s viral rant is in the hands of the board's lawyers. In November, a leaked recording of the San Fernando-based doctor’s conversation with an employee went viral on social media. He was heard boasting that he was a multi-millionaire, calling the police “paupers, dunce, uneducated” and using derogatory ethnic terms. He apologised a week later after heavy backlash on social media, and a doctor, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, an actor, and two others wrote to the Medical Board asking for an investigation into...

06 January

0 Comments

Sticky

Attorney for ‘racist doctor’ eyes judicial review, wants dismissal of complaints

Posted by site_admin

in Newspaper Articles

The TT Medical Board is expected to respond on January 18 to attorney Martin George who has called for the dismissal of five complaints against his client, controversial doctor Avinash Sawh. And the Board will also reply to George’s claim that it “went outside of its remit and invited complaints” against Sawh. The information is contained in letters passing recently between attorney Rajiv Persad acting for the Medical Board and George. Sawh shot into the spotlight in October last year following a social media recording in which he verbally abused a female employee and also used racist language. This caused a national outcry...

04 January

0 Comments

Sticky

‘Stranded nationals have no solid case against State’

Posted by site_admin

in Newspaper Articles

At the height of the global pandemic, approximately 91 per cent of countries had border closures, according to the US-based, Pew Research Centre. Entering 2021, T&T remains one of three Caribbean territories whose borders remain closed–the others being Monsteratt and the Cayman Islands. Closed since March 23, the Government maintains that the border closure is an important tool in controlling the spread of COVID-19, in turn, limiting the chances of the healthcare system becoming overwhelmed. While there have been calls by some for the borders to be reopened, virologist Dr Cristopher Oura, in an interview with Guardian Media last Tuesday, supported the...

04 January

0 Comments

Sticky

Dr Sawh: Board biased

Posted by site_admin

in Newspaper Articles

DR AVINASH SAWH, who is accused of uttering racist slurs, has sent another pre-action protocol letter to the Medical Board of Trinidad and Tobago, this time accusing the board of being 'tainted with bias' against him. He said, because of this, it may no longer be possible for him to have a fair hearing before the board. Sawh alleged that the board has been reaching out to people to file complaints against him, which is outside of its remit. He has given the board one week to respond. Sawh wrote the board on Tuesday, through his attorney Martin George. In the letter, George pointed...

18 December

0 Comments

Sticky

Local usher sues regional JLSC

Posted by site_admin

in Newspaper Articles

The Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC) for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has been sued locally by an employee at the court’s headquarters in Port-of-Spain. Attorneys representing usher Oscar Peters yesterday filed the judicial review lawsuit against the commission, which appoints judges to the CCJ and manages its human resources. In the claim, Peters is contending that the RJLSC breached nature justice, procedural fairness and its own regulations when it went ahead to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him based on an alleged flawed investigative report. The filing of the case coincided with a hearing of the disciplinary tribunal, which was...

18 December

0 Comments

Sticky

Sawh alleges Medical Board ‘biased,’ wants complaints quashed

Posted by site_admin

in Newspaper Articles

SAN Fernando-based doctor Dr Avinash Sawh is complaining of apparent bias on the part of the council of the Medical Board. On Tuesday, Sawh's attorney Martin George wrote to Dr Lesley Roberts, acting president of the board, accusing the council of descending into the arena by actively seeking and encouraging complaints to be filed against his client. “Such acts deprive the council of all appearance of fairness, impartiality, objectivity and neutrality in these matters,” George charged as he gave the council until December 22 to say from whom it has solicited complaints. He also demanded the council stop inviting further complaints against Sawh...

11 December

0 Comments

Sticky

HISTORIC GROUND-BREAKING JUDICIAL REVIEW…

Posted by site_admin

in Newspaper Articles

HISTORIC GROUND-BREAKING JUDICIAL REVIEW FILED AGAINST THE CCJ’s REGIONAL JUDICIAL & LEGAL SERVICES COMMISSION A landmark and historic case has been filed today in the High Court of Justice in Port of Spain against the Regional Judicial & Legal Services Commission, (RJLSC) which is the body that selects and appoints Judges to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and exercises supervisory control over the Caribbean Court of Justice for administrative and staff matters. This is the first matter of this kind to ever be filed against the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission anywhere in the Caribbean. Attorneys at Law MARTIN GEORGE...

10 December

0 Comments

Sticky

Medical Board still to decide on Sawh

Posted by site_admin

in Newspaper Articles

IT has been over a month since San Fernando-based doctor Dr Avinash Sawh's rant went viral on social media, but a decision is yet to be made by the Medical Board. He submitted a report to the board on December 1, almost a week ago. Sawh was recorded making racist, obscene remarks to a female employee, for which he has since apologised. But five people, including Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, wrote to the board asking it to investigate possible disciplinary measures. The board eventually wrote to Sawh and his attorney Martin George asking him to provide an explanation for his rant. This 100-page explanation...