Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves is calling greater cooperation between SVG’s police force and health sector.
During a call to the Issues at Hand program, the Prime Minister expressed concern at the reluctance of some medical professionals to provide assistance to police.
“Sometimes somebody would go down to the casualty—whether it’s an injury in respect of an assault or whether it’s a sexual offense, whatever the offense—and you require the medical report from the doctor and the examination by the doctor” Gonsalves said.
The Prime Minister expressed disappointment that this occurs even with junior doctors at the hospital, saying that the primary reason for them not wanting to do so, stemming from them not wanting to go to court.
“There are some doctors, including junior doctors [who] don’t want to do this work because they don’t want to go to court. When the commissioner was talking about something about swabs; that is the least of the problem, because you’ll be able to get the swabs through the ministry of health” he said.
The Prime Minister’s mention of swabs is a reference to statement made earlier in the program by the Commissioner of Police Colin John who was a guest, discussing various topics, including the challenges that law enforcement officials face when dealing with sexual offence cases. One such challenge that the commissioner highlighted was the task of swabbing victims of rape for forensic purposes.
The Prime Minister goes on to emphasize the importance of police and doctors at the hospital having a good working relationship.
“These doctors have to work with the police, that is an important area. If the doctors read carefully, their terms of employment, this is covered in their terms of employment” The Prime Minister noted.
