UWI med sci dean has strong support in faculty, says deputy

Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences Dr Myrton Smith says Professor Joseph Plummer retains strong support within the faculty despite a failed bid to remove him as dean.

Smith, who was reacting to elements of a Sunday Gleaner story published on the weekend, sought to clarify that the appointment of the dean falls under the authority of the University of the West Indies (UWI), not the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI).

Speaking with The Gleaner on Monday, Smith also agreed that Plummer did not determine the weekly work hours for consultants at the UHWI outlined in Ministry of Finance documents seen by the newspaper in March 2024. As a result, he rejected suggestions that attempts to remove Plummer were linked to any insistence that consultants honour 28-hour work weeks.

 “The deanship is completely a creature of the UWI and has nothing to do with the hospital. Dr Plummer is the dean of the faculty, but he is not the head of the Department of Medicine or the face of the faculty. The head is Dr Marilyn Lawrence-Wright. 

“I am a deputy to him (Plummer), and I can tell you that he has strong support. But after reading the Sunday story, the impression that a small group of consultants wanted his removal is not accurate.  It was not a group of consultants that wrote to the Visitor. It may have been a group of persons within the faculty, but it wasn't a group of consultants,” said Smith.

The complaint to the Visitor alleged that Professor Plummer was “not properly seated” by The UWI, which has responsibility for such appointments.

Smith, a consultant ear, nose, and throat surgeon, said Plummer oversees seven faculty programmes, including the MBBS programme,-  which trains doctors and surgeons , dentists, and physiotherapists- ,  as well as the schools programmes for dentistry, physiotherapy,of radiation technology and pharmacy. He noted that many lecturers within the faculty are neither doctors nor consultants.

“We (consultants) knew nothing about this letter until some meeting was called by the (UWI) principal, Professor Densil Williams, to speak about it. And so, because this was not generated by the consultants, it could not have been in response to him telling us about hours of work when he does not speak to all hours of work. And he has never sought to engage us on that matter,” Smith said.

“You have those of us who are full-time hospital consultants, and our salaries and our working conditions fall under the purview of the Ministry of Finance. And then you have a group of persons who are lecturers at the university and work part -time at the hospital. And for that, they get a part-time salary. They're always at the hospital. Theirs is not 28 [hours], it's 20,” he explained, stating that there are about 200  consultants at the UHWI and not 400.

He also argued that there is a common misconception that UHWI answers to the UWI. According to Smith, the hospital is a Jamaican public body that falls under the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance for operational matters.

“The dean does not run the hospital. He has standing in the faculty to deal with the academic issues, the way students are taught in the different programmes, but he does not have any standing in the hospital as an administrator. He is completely UWI. He's separate,” Smith stated.

Smith was one of seven signatories to a letter calling for the removal of Dr Carl Bruce as medical chief of staff at the hospital in a letter that was in the public domain several months ago. The visitor – Justice Rolston Fitzherbert Nelson, a regional jurist of high standing who is the final arbiter of disputes at The UWI – was not petitioned in that instance. Neither was he petitioned in the call for the removal of Dr Dionne Bennett as head of physiotherapy.

While acknowledging that some clarifications to the Sunday Gleaner story were necessary, two medical professionals at the hospital said Plummer had, in one-on-one discussions, told individuals to honour their responsibilities to the hospital, especially those required to give 28 hours per week.

The medics said, “No one should be telling the very senior doctors to honour their responsibility to work.” 

“Do not let anyone tell you that a power struggle is not going on that UHWI. It is also going on at UWI as well, and the issues are related. And yes, class and school ties have a lot to do with it,” said the source.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com