And moving further south, there is a disturbing report of sexual assault at the hands of a medical professional coming from the Toledo District. Our newsroom received a letter that was sent to three ministers, where a 23-year-old woman reported that on Sunday, she went for an ultrasound at a private clinic, and during the examination, the male specialist examining her, sexually assaulted her in a very deliberate and invasive manner.
In the letter, she stated that since it was her first time getting an ultrasound, she was unsure of the procedure, and followed the radiologist's instructions, until she realized that she was being assaulted. We refrain from going into the details she described, but she added that the confidence with which he acted made her believe that she was not his first victim. She said that she wrote the letter to bring awareness and to protect future potential victims.
She also mentioned that after it happened, she felt violated and demeaned.
It's an alarming allegation of gross malpractice. Today, we asked the Minister of Health, who has seen the complaint and he refrained from going into the details of their investigation.
Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health
"All I will answer to this, uh, letter at this point, and I take it very seriously, uh, all my comment will be at this point is that I have asked the director of hospital services to take swift action, investigate, of course, there's a process this specific doctor, while it was his private clinic works with the Western Regional Hospital. And so because of the allegation and we have to, we have to claim it as an allegation first, it has to go to the Public Service Commission that has these, these complaints have to go to the Public Service Commission and the medical council. And so I will leave it at that for now until I can get more, until that can take its necessary due process, I cannot really make any further comment, but all I can say is that we, we take that allegation very seriously and we are going to ensure that we act swiftly. Uh, if it points out to be true, then all the necessary actions will have to be taken."
We also reached out to the Director of Hospital Services Doctor Jorge Polanco for a comment but he left us one "seen."
The letter was also sent to the Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister of Human Development. We will continue to follow this story.
