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.