By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands said he will continue to serve the country as a physician in public and private practice while providing help where needed in his capacity to aid in the COVID-19 fight.

His comments came after members of Parliament unanimously passed a resolution yesterday to grant the Elizabeth MP exemption to serve as consultant surgeon for the Public Hospitals Authority, without having to vacate his seat from Parliament.

The move comes after the former health minister resigned from Cabinet earlier this month.

In a letter dated May 27 to House Speaker Halson Moultrie, Dr Sands noted that following his resignation from Cabinet, he had finalised a contractual agreement with PHA to return as a consultant surgeon in the medical field.

The letter read: “As you are aware, I have recently resigned as a Cabinet minister. Having done so, I am returning to my profession as a cardiac vascular thoracic surgeon even as I carry out my duties as an elected member of Parliament for the Elizabeth constituency.

“As it is my intention to ensure that all my Bahamians public and private have access to specialist surgical services, I have applied for a re-engagement as a consultant surgeon at the Public Hospital Authority, Ministry of Health.

“The attached offer from the Public Hospital Authority outlines the terms of my anticipated role, expected to begin on the 27th of May 2020.”

Dr Sands is considered one of the best cardiovascular surgeons in the country.

Noting the profession as one he has prepared for his entire life, Dr Sands told The Tribune yesterday that he is happy to return to the medical field to serve the Bahamian people.

He said: “It’s the profession that I have prepared (for) all my life, all of my professional life to execute and I have always provided services not just in the private sector but also to public patients and that is going to continue.

“I think it’s very, very important that any skill that I have is made available just not to people with the ability to pay but public patients as well so that’s what I’m going to be doing.”

In addition to returning to the operating room, the Elizabeth MP said he also plans to continue serving the people in his constituency, saying he will work “on being the best representative” he can possibly be.

Dr Sands added that he also will continue to aid in the fight against the COVID-19 threat, providing recommendations where needed within his capacity.

“I will continue to work on the national response (to COVID) in my role not as a Cabinet minister, but as a back bencher. It’s a different role but it’s one I take seriously and I will do it to the best of my ability.”

He also said: “I have one country to which I swear allegiance and that is the Commonwealth of The Bahamas so in whatever capacity I can, I will do my best to help to improve, develop and advance this country.

“I am a senior physician in the country. Now, I am putting on a different hat or a different set of scrubs and so let’s go to work.”

The former health minister resigned earlier this month for his actions related to six American permanent residents who landed in the country with COVID-19 testing supplies. The group had not been tested prior to their arrival in the country and instead were tested for the disease the next day. Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis described the situation as a breach of protocol and the next day, Dr Sands offered his resignation and the nation’s leader accepted it.

Dr Sands is the second Cabinet minister to resign this term, after former Immigration Minister Brent Symonette resigned last year.