Editorial

The latest incident involving alleged sexual molestation of a doctor practising medicine in the country should move the Medical Profession as a body to review the systems in place to avoid such a situation.

It is clear that in time to come the country would be faced with more accusations by doctors from their patients if nothing is done to seriously address the issue. A few weeks ago, a similar charge was made in another local newspaper against a medical doctor with offices on Grenville Street in St. George's.

It is well known that the doctor concerned is a member of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the issue took on political implications. Some of those who were up in arms against the doctors had a clear political agenda.

It was quite naturally in the interest of the ruling New National Party (NNP) government of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell to pursue the matter as far as possible in order to score as much political milage against the Congress party.

After all the NDC is hounding down the Prime Minister on the Switzerland Briefcase issue in which Dr. Mitchell is faced with the allegation of accepting US$500, 000.00 from International conman Eric Restiener in the form of a bribe in order to grant him a diplomatic position.

Some members of the smaller People¹s Labour Movement (PLM) are equally happy to use the issue in order to score some political points against the NDC. It is our suspicion that there are those within the PLM executive with such a deep hatred of NDC members such as Peter David and Nazim Buke that they would prefer to see NNP remain in office rather than the electorate make a changeover to Congress.

The latest situation involving a Cuban doctor at the St. George¹s General hospital should be looked at rather closely not only by the powers-that-be but all and sundry. What is common here is that allegations of sexual molestation was made against two members of the medical profession who had their training in Cuban institutions.

Cuba is a Latin Ameircan country and it is well known that people from that part of the world are very liberal when it comes to sex. These two quite separate allegations bring into the public domain for discussion the kinds of ethical standards that come out from Cuban medical institutions as opposed to those in major Western countries like the United States, Britain and France.

This is not to suggest that doctors who have had their training and upbringing in these countries are not engaged in sexual molestation of their patients. Within the legal profession, the older and seasoned lawyers would often say that barristers-at-law who are trained in England have a much different approach to the profession than those trained within the regional University of the West Indies (UWI).

And in more recent times, we have been getting more and more reports of Catholic priests especially in the United States engaged in sexual molestation of young boys in their diocese. So the issue is not one of communism being bad and ugly and everything is good in the so-called modern Western industrialised nations.

The medical profession like any other professional body would have to do its own policing in order to ensure that both doctors and patients are protected against charges and counter-charges of sexual molestation. It should be mandatory that doctors especially males be accompanied by a female nurse when attending to patients whether in public or private institutions.

This simple practice would offer greater protection for both parties. It would be extremely difficult for a doctor with ulterior motives to get a chance to fulfill his dreams and desire against an unsuspecting patient.

GRENADA TODAY know of many women who are very sensitive on this issue and would not not venture into the office of a male doctor no matter how good is his track record in his area of specialty. And the recent incidents involving two male doctors would not help the situation any better.

This newspaper is also suggesting strongly that the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) must be allowed to do its work in fully investigating this very sensitive matter involving a Cuban doctor. It would be unwise to take any political decision whether in Havana or St. George¹s to allow the doctor to quietly leave the country while the police investigation is still in progress.

Let the law take its course since justice is for one and all and not a selected few in society.