Dr Tim Gopeesingh’s claim of ethnic cleansing at the Port of Spain General Hospital was yesterday questioned by yet another doctor he named as a victim.

Urologist Dr Lall Sawh said he opted to leave the hospital because he was expected to be the specialist at three hospitals while junior doctors were earning more than him. Sawh said he did not subscribe to the use of the phrase ’ethnic cleansing’.

Sawh said he resigned from the Ministry of Health and took a Voluntary Separation of Employment Package after lengthy discussions health officials over his working conditions.

He said, ’At one time, I was responsible for the urological department of three hospitals and junior members of staff were getting a higher salary than me. After making several attempts to have the situation rectified I opted for VSEP.’

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of the Southwest Regional Health Authority (SWRHA), Mike Harris, said there were no room for discrimination to be practised at the San Fernando General Hospital.

Harris said the need for doctors was ’so desperate that we have to take what is available’. He said the system of recruitment of doctors was designed to give balance.

’We have on the recruiting team a human resource person and three doctors on the panel to employ doctors, and the decision is made by the team,’ Harris said.

He added, ’Doctors have to be registered with the Medical Board of Trinidad and Tobago and once they apply for positions in the hospital they are interviewed.’

He said the recruitment policy is based on qualifications, experience and commitment to the institution.

The Express was told that of the 240 doctors working at the institution, 205 are East Indians, six of mixed descent, five are Chinese and 24 are of African descent. And of the consultants and registrars, ninety per cent are East Indians and 10 per cent other races.

Gopeesingh, the MP for Caroni East, caused a furore when he told Parliament on Friday that there is ’ethnic cleansing at Port of Spain General Hospital and the contracts for several doctors have not been renewed because of this practice’.

Former San Fernando Hospital Medical Chief of Staff, Dr Anand Chattergoon, also said yesterday, ’I am not aware there is any ethnic cleansing at the San Fernando General Hospital. If it was happening, I will not still be there.’