Ministers of Health, Labour meet students of bogus nursing school

Feb 01, 2009 News

Students of the bogus Inter-American Medical Centre yesterday turned up in their numbers to meet with Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy at his Brickdam head office, to determine whether they had the requisite qualifications to enrol for the various courses offered by the Health Ministry.

Ministers Mazoor Nadir and Leslie Ramsammy along with Director of Standards and Technical Services, Ms Yvette Irving (at head table) meet with the students yesterday.

As a bonus, the students were also able to meet with Minister of Labour, Manzoor Nadir, who divulged information about the Youth Empowerment programme that was implemented some time ago by the Government.

The programme was put in place to provide young persons in the society with training that could help them to become eligible to join various sectors, including the health sector, which they (the students) seem intent on being a part of.

The students, based on disclosures from the Health Minister, were duped into joining the so-called medical institution which also was represented as a nursing school offering certificates that could make them eligible to be recruited to work in the United States.

In their desperation to join the health sector, almost 200 mostly young persons shelled out thousands of dollars to the owner of the bogus entity, an individual who, according to reports, has been utilising about five aliases over the years.

The fraudulent nature of the entity was exposed in its entirety to the public last week, and it was even discovered that the woman had been involved in similar fraudulent businesses in the past.

But the fact that so many young persons were deceived in their quest to get formal training in the health sector came as no surprise to Minister Nadir.

He alluded to a survey which was released following the onset of the financial crisis.

That release stated that, within the next ten years, the United States would require 1.5 million workers in the health sector alone.

“There are so many opportunities for persons who choose to enter this sector for good careers, not only here, but in the region and further afield,” the minister noted.

He added, though that the formal health programmes offered by the Health Ministry are oversubscribed by about 2,000 persons annually.

However, there are still many applicants, the minister disclosed, who cannot be a part of such programmes because of the fact that they do not possess the necessary qualifications.

He said that a programme is being facilitated, through the Board of Industrial Training, to prepare health care assistance in almost every medical field.

“It’s a person who will help the nurse, who will help the physiotherapist, the technician, a number of different areas…The qualification to enter is basic reading and writing skills. What that does is place the person in health facilities where he or she learns some of the basic things to help out in these facilities.”

Through the programme, too, persons are offered remedial Mathematics and English and life skills training, which in essence gives them an opportunity to join one of the formal health training programmes.

“We will work with school drop outs…We have also had to deal with young persons who have written CXC but may not have three or five subjects to get into other formal training programmes. Our level of training is at the entry level of industry, but it is also recognised in the region.”

“There are four levels of training within Caricom, and we are now patched in. We work closely with the Ministry of Education, and the certificates that we issue are for 500 hours of training, and it has some basic recognition.”

Minister Nadir urged the fleeced students to learn from their experience and to move on, adding that every effort will be made to help them overcome the past.

Those students already in possession of qualifications suitable for formal programmes offered by the Health Ministry may be able to access Government-run training facilities, Minister Ramsammy said.

“You could be Medical Technologists…you can go to the University of Guyana with five CXC subjects, including Maths and English, you can be a Registered Nurse with five CXC subjects, you could become a Nursing Assistant with three CXC subjects, you could become a Nurse Aide with one CXC subject, or a Patient Care Assistant if you attended High School and did well.”

“You could become a Community Health Worker where, again, if you attended high school, you qualify. You can be a Community Dental Therapist, a Medex, a Dentex, a Rehabilitation Assistant, a Plaster-of-Paris Technician and Operating Room Technician, or even as Pharmacy Assistants or Pharmacists.”

However, those persons who do not have any CXC subjects will be competing with those who do have for the more than 80 careers offered by the ministry.

The minister is set to meet again with the students on Valentine’s Day, when discussions on their potential enrolment into various courses offered by the Ministry of Health or the Youth Empowerment programme will continue.