Debate over healthcare has raged over the past year and a half – a period of four Health Ministers, angry protests from the public, accusations of political interference at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, plans for a new stem cell clinic despite an absence of current stem cell legislation and the outing of Bermuda as the fourth fattest country in the world.

This is how events have unfolded since late summer 2006.

August 2006: Health Minister Patrice Minors sparks an outcry from green campaigners by unveiling plans to replace the ageing KEMH with a new facility in Botanical Gardens.

October 2006: Following weeks of public protesting about the Botanical Gardens move, new Premier Ewart Brown sacks Mrs. Minors to make way for Nelson Bascome.

November 2006: Mr. Bascome announces the Botanical Gardens plan is shelved.

November 2006: Dr. Brown reveals in his Throne Speech that KEMH's Medical Clinic, which provides care to vulnerable people including the homeless and elderly, will be closed.

February 2007: Medical Clinic doctor Catherine Wakely is forced to resign after writing a letter to The Royal Gazette questioning its closure.

February 2007: Mr. Bascome steps down as Health Minister to fight a court case. He is replaced by new Acting Health Minister Philip Perinchief, the Attorney General.

March 2007: Dr. Brown takes part in an angry confrontation with up to 50 protesters who march on the House of Assembly to voice their anger over plans to shut the Medical Clinic. The Premier says its closure is because the patients suffer a loss of dignity and that in future they will all be assigned private physicians.

March 2007: Dr. Brown faces accusations of a conflict of interest after it is claimed his plans to close the Medical Clinic clash with his private proposals to open a new healthcare facility at Smith's, Winterhaven.

March 2007: Experts from Johns Hopkins Medicine International arrive in Bermuda to carry out a $200,000 three-month review into the Island's healthcare needs ahead of the rebuilding of KEMH, which will now take place at the existing site.

May 2007: Dr. Brown faces accusations of cronyism when Johns Hopkins bids for a $13.5 million hospital management consultancy contract, only for Kurron Shares, a lesser known firm run by his friend Corbett Price, to win the deal.

June 2007: Former Telecommunications Minister Michael Scott is announced as Bermuda's fourth Health Minister in under a year.

July 2007: The Medical Clinic closes.

July 2007: Dr. Brown announces plans to open the Brown-Darrell Clinic at Winterhaven, in partnership with wife Wanda and California-based Stemedica. It will be a clinic for adult stem cell research, the principle of which is initially cautiously welcomed by church leaders.

August 2007: Government launches a Healthy Weight Action Plan in response to rising – but as yet unreleased – obesity figures, proposing a raft of measures including cutting tax on healthy foods and increasing it on fatty foods.

September 2007: The Bermuda Health Survey shows one in three children in Bermuda is obese, and more than 60 percent of adults are obese or overweight. Studies in the UK show only the US, Mexico and Scotland are fatter.

October 2007: International doctors voice comment over the Brown-Darrell Clinic – expressing scepticism about anyone planning experimental stem cell treatment in jurisdictions with no regulatory oversight, such as Bermuda, and urging patients not to be misled into believing the treatment is a miracle cure.

November 2007: The Brown-Darrell Clinic says it would welcome and encourage legislation in Bermuda consistent with the protocol practised by countries engaged in stem cell research. However, the group repeatedly refuses to respond when asked if it will postpone its opening until such legislation is in place. It remains scheduled to open in early 2008.

November 2007: In a report into allegations of racism at KEMH, Ombudsman Arlene Brock refers to an "insidious, growing, political interference" at the hospital. She says her study showed many white people felt a "powerful black doctor" was targetting the "white power elite" who unfairly denied him entry into the profession in Bermuda years ago.

She concludes race is a major divisive force at KEMH, and also highlights shocking examples of incompetence, including a drug-abusing anaesthetist lying in a sedated state as an alarm beeps incessantly while he is meant to be monitoring a patient.

November 2007: BHB CEO David Hill denies suggestions the hospital is plagued by political interference – but declines the opportunity to directly rule out that BHB's recommendation was overturned by Government for the appointment of Kurron Shares.

November 2007: Mr. Scott's notes on an August meeting between the Premier, himself and health chiefs – dubbing themselves the Saturday Group – are leaked to The Royal Gazette. In them, Mr. Scott says the Johns Hopkins review needs to be written for the public so that it does not embarrass Government. A snapshot of KEMH, attributed by Mr. Scott to Mr. Hill, points to poor clinical safety, shaky and worsening finances, lack of managerial process and accountability and people being employed in the wrong places. BHB dismisses the notes as grossly inaccurate, in some places untrue, and a reflection of Mr. Scott's private notes and personal thoughts. The Premier, whom Mr. Scott says opened the meeting and to whom numerous remarks are attributed, defers comment to Mr. Scott and describes himself as "an observer".

December 2007: Mr. Scott refuses repeated requests to release the Johns Hopkins review, saying it would be inappropriate to do so while a Police investigation takes place into his claims that documents "may have been stolen" from his office – even though the Johns Hopkins review is not part of the Police investigation.

Mr. Scott denies the suggestion that he wants to withhold the report because of the approaching General Election.