For the better part of a year, public calls for investigation and action have been met with an active spreading of misinformation, as well as several unsuccessful attempts to sweep this matter under the carpet. The result has been more and more questions being added to the many still unanswered in this case, only made worse the fact that to date no arrests have been made, no charges have been laid and not a single person has been called to account.
The alarming number of protocols violated, as well as the breaches of long established checks and balances in the case of the reported cocaine-pellet surgery requires decisive action at several levels, both criminal and medical. The lack of clarity in this matter, even after so many months of alleged investigations, has to do in large part with the way members of the medical fraternity and many authority figures have been hiding behind excuses as to what they can do and what they don’t have to report. Their denials and excuses have not hidden from public view what appear to be attempts at cover-ups.
There is no escaping the facts of this case, or that serious criminal offences were committed more than a year ago involving a drug mule, his associates and medical staff at a private hospital.
The argument that the surgeon and medical staff would have breached the patient’s confidentiality by reporting and handing over the illicit drugs retrieved from his abdomen is totally without merit. In fact, by failing to report the matter and handing over the suspicious items to associates of the patient, they broke the law. Once they had even the slightest suspicion that an illegal drug was involved, they should have called in the police and handed over the suspicious items.
Therefore, criminal culpability is not limited to the 34-year-old Arouca man who allegedly swallowed 20 pellets of cocaine, then became so severely ill that he had to seek medical attention. It applies to every individual who assisted in the retrieval of the drugs, or facilitated the cover-up of this serious crime. Under section 27 of the Dangerous Drugs Act, anyone who attempts, aids, abets, counsels or procures the commission of drug trafficking is guilty of an offence. While not explicitly stated in that act, as it is in the Sexual Offences and Coroners Act, there was a general statutory duty on the part of the doctor and all others involved in that surgery to report an illegal activity. They should not be allowed to use the vagueness of the law as an escape hatch.
For the better part of a year, public calls for investigation and action have been met with an active spreading of misinformation, as well as several unsuccessful attempts to sweep this matter under the carpet. The result has been more and more questions being added to the many still unanswered in this case, only made worse the fact that to date no arrests have been made, no charges have been laid and not a single person has been called to account.
This is not a private matter but a public scandal which will not be put to rest by an ongoing campaign of delays, denials and attempts to cover up. Full accountability from all involved is long overdue, and this cannot be treated as a simple police matter. Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan, officials of the regional health authority, the T&T Medical Board and the Nursing Council and all other parties connected to this must step up now, stop hiding behind excuses and do the right thing. Only the truth and swift, decisive action will bring about the satisfactory resolution of this case.