That is how Shadow Minister of Health Dr William Duguid described the amendment to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Bill which fundamentally changed the structure of the board of management at the institution.

On Tuesday Government announced the composition of a new 13-member board all appointed by Government with a wide range of skills and qualifications. This effectively removed all of the members previously appointed by the former Barbados Labour Party administration.

Duguid was very critical of Government, particularly for removing the three trade union representatives and excluding the chief executive officer from the new board.

He said he could never support the bill.

"I don't know what boards the honourable member has served on in the past, but in order to have a good functioning board that sets policy, the chief executive officer should be a part of that board, so that when policy is set by the board he can render advice," Duguid stated.

In addition, he questioned how the Democratic Labour Party administration would be able to justify its exclusion of trade unionists.

"It is a remarkable act. This being the first policy that the new Democratic Labour Party Government has brought to this House as a bill and the first thing they do is to remove unions from a board.

"This new administration came and with the simple swipe of a pen they removed the struggles of the trade unions and for all members on that side to agree to this is a travesty," he said.

He argued that this demonstrated that the policy of the DLP going forward would be"anti-union" and that this action "would affect the lives of 2 000 employees of the QEH.

Duguid pointed out that the representatives from the Barbados Association of Retired Persons and the Barbados Christian Council were lay people who represented the interests of patients.

He dismissed arguments of an industrial relations representative being appointed to the new board, stating that there was a significant difference between an industrial relations representative and a trade unionist.

"He could have increased the members of the board and bring on who he wished. He could have increased it from 20 to 30. But this is political nonsense", he charged.

"Barbados will judge them harshly on this one," Duguid contended. (MB)