Premier Ewart Brown was yesterday named as one of 23 physicians who will take on patients from the doomed Medical Clinic.

Dr. Brown — medical director of Bermuda Healthcare — has repeatedly faced accusations of a conflict of interest since announcing the closure of the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital facility in his Throne Speech last November.

In the House of Assembly yesterday, new Health Minister Michael Scott made a Ministerial statement announcing his early plans for a string of issues he aims to tackle.

Talking about the controversial closure of the clinic, scheduled before the end of the month, Mr. Scott revealed the Premier was among a list of private physicians to whom patients will now be assigned.

The list also contains a number of doctors who have worked at the Medical Clinic, including Dr. Stanley James, Dr. Ronald Lightbourne and Dr. Samantha Price.

The Medical Clinic provides care to vulnerable people including the homeless, elderly and mentally ill. However, Dr. Brown claims its patients suffer from a lack of dignity.

In March this year, his motivations for closing the clinic were called into question by Opposition MP Trevor Moniz, who pointed to the Premier’s plans to convert the historic Winterhaven building, in Smith’s, into a healthcare clinic. Last night, Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson said: “It’s a conflict of interest, which is what people have been saying from the beginning.”

She added: “He’s not even a practising physician any more, so that’s one you can strike off the list anyway.”

The Shadow Minister said there were serious issues with disabled access on many of the surgeries on the list.

Mr. Scott said private physicians would get $47 per visit, of which $42 would come from the Government Health Insurance Plan (HIP) and $5 from the patient.

The new Minister also spoke about the opening of the new Child and Adolescent Services facility at Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute.

He said it was a “dream come true” facility which would provide mental health assessments and treatment to young people with emotional, behavioural, developmental, psychiatric or family issues.

Youngsters will be able to receive help from conditions including eating disorders, depression, bereavement and autism.

Responding, Mrs. Jackson argued that the centre should have been located elsewhere because of security reasons, problems with transportation and a stigma associated with the institution.