Asha Javeed

Lead Ed­i­tor In­ves­ti­ga­tions

asha.javeed@guardian.co.tt

Em­ploy­ees at the Min­istry of Health (MoH) are call­ing for dis­ci­pli­nary ac­tion to be tak­en against a se­nior of­fi­cial ac­cused of sex­u­al mis­con­duct.

Guardian Me­dia was told that the of­fi­cial was sent on leave last week fol­low­ing an in­ci­dent in­volv­ing a ju­nior at the min­istry, which al­leged­ly took place in the of­fi­cial’s of­fice at the min­istry’s new Port-of-Spain head­quar­ters.

How­ev­er, em­ploy­ees have raised con­cern that the of­fi­cial has since re­turned to work with­out fac­ing any se­ri­ous dis­ci­pli­nary charges.

When con­tact­ed on Mon­day, Health Min­is­ter Ter­rence Deyals­ingh said he was in Par­lia­ment, shared the num­ber of the Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary Asif Ali, and sug­gest­ed he be con­tact­ed for com­ment on the con­cern.

How­ev­er, Ali re­fused to com­ment on the mat­ter when con­tact­ed.

Guardian Me­dia al­so reached out to Pub­lic Ser­vice head Mau­rice Suite for com­ment but he did not re­spond to calls or mes­sages.

Chief Med­ical Of­fi­cer Dr Roshan Paras­ram al­so did not re­spond to a re­quest for com­ment on the is­sue.