Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan has said Medical Research Foundation director Professor Courtenay Bartholomew should not be so "loud" in his calls for the resignation of the Medical Board.

Bartholomew has called on the board to resign because of what he described as its "dilly-dallying" over investigations into a Ministry of Health doctor suspected of prescribing the wrong drugs to HIV/AIDS patients.

Khan said he had been informed of the issue by Bartholomew, and referred the matter to the Medical Board, the regulatory body for doctors in Trinidad and Tobago.

"I don't think (he should be) calling for the board to resign because of just his programme. They have their approach of doing things and he may have his, but a call for them to resign should not be done in such a loud effect because they have their procedures to follow," Khan told reporters Sunday during the Trinidad and Tobago Medical Association's 18th Medical Research Conference at the Hyatt Regency (Trinidad), Port of Spain.

Khan also responded to questions on complaints from nurses about the granting of licences. Khan said he was "very aware" of the issue and will be holding a media conference today to indicate exactly what he plans to do with Nursing Council and accreditation issues.

"Looking into the issue over the last ten years or more, what I've found is there is a high, unnecessary rate of failure in the nursing council's exams. We have (tertiary) institutions that do their own nursing exams, which nurses pass. But for some strange reason, new entrants were failing (the council's) exams and could not be licensed. The Ministry took a decision that when somebody passed an exam based on a special schedule (institutional exams) they will be allowed automatic entry and registration and we are putting that in place... there will be no incentive lost," he said.