BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS – Former Minister of Health and Chairperson of the opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, Hon Marcella Liburd continues to insist that Minister of State in the Ministry of Health, Sen. the Hon. Wendy Phipps must apologise and resign over the J. N. France General Hospital Regenerative Stem Cell Scandal.
Ms. Liburd on Wednesday’s edition of “Issues” on Freedom FM pointed out several areas in which Ms. Phipps misled the Nation.
Sen. Phipps in a national radio and television address on June 23 said: “As Minister of State with Responsibility for Health I wish to state categorically that neither the Ministry of Health nor the JNF General Hospital is engaged in any stem cell project.”
Minister Phipps later changed her story at the Prime Minister’s press conference on June 29, to state that “a cord blood plasma type therapy taking place at the J. N. France General Hospital is done by an IV Treatment and what scientists are trying to do is to encourage the human body into creating its own stem cells for regenerative purposes.”
Liburd, Parliamentary Representative for St. Christopher 2 (Central Basseterre) responded: “It boils down that regenerative stem cell activity is taking place at the JNF. She has misled the public and I am asking her to apologize to the public and to apologize to Dr. Patrick Martin, because in her broadcast she misled persons to believe that Dr Martin was lying when he said it was a stem cell project going on at the hospital without his knowledge and approval.”
MP Liburd said Minister Phipps also lied when she stated that the Regenerative Stem Cell Project was FDA-approved.
“We are asking the Junior Minister to provide the evidence of that, because this is just another lie that was told to the public in order to try to legitimise an illegitimate operation,” said Liburd, pointing out that Phipps could not say that the Chief Medical Officer had approved the project.
“The FDA is run by rules and regulations. They have to place on their website every project that is approved. Check the website for yourself and see if you can find anything approved for St Kitts and Nevis in relation to that project. Go towww.clinicaltrials.gov and look for human umbilical cord blood plasma phase one. There is nothing there for St. Kitts and Nevis.
She said the J.N. France General Hospital Regenerative Stem Cell is taking place without the appropriate legislation,
Liburd said Minister Phipps and Medical Chief of Staff and now Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Cameron Wilkinson, have disputed the statement by Dr Martin that the unlicensed and unregistered Brazilian doctor was on the Private Ward of the hospital with gloves on and a stetescope around her neck when he went to the hospital on the morning of June 13th.
Minister Phipps claims that the Brazilian physician was just observing.
“When you look at the infusion protocol that they were using the doctor stated in the document is the same Brazilian doctor. There was no other expert in the room in the area. Who was instructing these nurses? Here again Wendy Phipps has misled the public because none of them has disputed that he was not licensed and Phipps has admitted that they are now going to process a license for her,” Ms Liburd stated.
She also said that Minister Phipps lied again when she stated there were three patients involved in the regenerated stem cell project at the hospital, while Dr Wilkinson has disclosed there were six patients.