UG trained doctor sees greater opportunities in the USA

Oct 25, 2009 News

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By Dale Andrews

Dr. Bertrand Orin Harry left Guyana in April 2002 to further his career in medicine. A graduate of the University of Guyana in 2000, Harry felt stagnated at the Georgetown Hospital where he did his internship. There was no real upward mobility in terms of further medicinal research and realizing that there were greater opportunities in the United States, Harry made the bold step to move there knowing fully well that the challenge of integrating into the US medical field would be great.
He was aware that leaving family and friends behind and venturing into the unknown was never going to be easy. But like a true pioneer Harry persevered and is now a practicing physician in Brooklyn, New York.
In an exclusive interview with this newspaper in his adopted homeland, the former North Ruimveldt resident explained that after spending four months at the Georgetown Hospital, he had developed a desire to achieve further academically.
This, he said, that one of the main reasons why he decided to move on.
“I really wanted to make a greater impact on the lives of people. The fact that I had a visa, I just said that I should give it a try. The scope was there,” Dr. Harry told Kaieteur News.
An avid Christian, Harry was also driven by a scripture in the bible and after praying a lot he took the giant leap of moving to the United States of America, where the opportunities to really harness his potential were enormous.
He advised that young doctors like himself who are residing in Guyana should have a vision of where they want to be.
“Not just, ‘okay, I go through medical school and that’s it’. It should really be ‘what do I want to be’,” he stated.
With the medical world moving more towards specialist areas, enhancing ones’ academia is another factor that s motivating Harry.
“Whether it’s Neuro-surgery, Pediatrics, Gynaecology or Gastro-enterology, whatever. You have to have that vision and to know how to really get there.”
Harry said that unlike in Guyana, the United States has the resources that would enable young doctors to navigate their way towards their career goals.
He said that coming out from Guyana the challenge was really uphill but he took them on one battle at a time with the help of God.
Presently, Harry is still pretty much a general practitioner, but he is setting his sights of becoming an expert in family medicine.
But the big challenge for him was getting past the American Medical Examination, which would enable him to be licensed to practice legally in the United States.
He admitted that it was very difficult to get past that hurdle but he succeeded by applying himself to diligent studies.
Being in the United States of America and not having a green card initially, Harry had to develop his own support network to sustain himself initially.
He did not have the strong family support that some people enjoy when they migrate to the US.
“In my case I had to basically work and study to support myself, but the exams themselves were very hard. A lot of studying, but when you really focus, the challenge becomes easier,” Harry explained.
Despite the challenges, he was lucky to land his first job at a doctor’s clinic, six weeks after arriving in the US.
At that time he had no green card.
But having acquired a tax identification number he was able to obtain a higher paying job soon after.
He spent four years at his new job and such was his performance that he was encouraged by a senior physician there to get himself licensed.
Harry was subsequently granted residency status at the St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in New York.
His two years there was a revelation and as he puts it, his brief practical experience in Guyana paid significant dividends.
“Some of my experience in Guyana I was able to use. Medicine is medicine everywhere but it’s just that in Guyana we may be limited in what we can do for the patient. Over here everything is opened up for you,” the former St. Stanislaus College student informed.
Harry is not alone, in terms of migrating doctors.
He indicated that there are a lot of his colleagues who have chosen similar paths after graduating from the University of Guyana.
“A few of them who I was in class with have come up and have been able to study and get past the system and are attending physicians at various hospitals and clinics,” he said.
But despite the brain drain that has affected Guyana significantly, Harry believes that in the long run the experienced that will be gained will benefit Guyana.
According to him, the plan is mainly for young Guyanese physicians to gain valuable international exposure and then at a letter stage when they are financially secured return to serve the country of their birth.
“We want to come together and go back to Guyana and see what we can do to develop the country and its health care system. In terms of living, we may not go back to live but we will go back from time to time and give our expertise to our fellow citizens,” Harry pledged.
This has been the case with many local doctors who would return in batches to lend support to the local health care system.
He identified one striking difference with practicing medicine in the United States of America and Guyana.
In the US he said, one has to dot the I’s and cross the T’s.
“Not that you can escape with unprofessionalism in Guyana. But instead of the casual approach, doctors back home need to be more aggressive in treating with illnesses.
In Guyana most times we just wait until daylight when the doctor visits the ward but over here its twenty-four hours care regardless of whatever. The patient comes first.”
Dr. Harry cited the importance of having experts and equipment on hospital location whenever the need arises.
For instance in the US, he said, when a patient comes in with a neurological problem, he is immediately given a CT scan and should the patient require surgery, he or she is taken directly to the emergency room.
“In Guyana, the patient would have to wait on a CT scan the next day and there is that delay that can cost a life. Over here a patient needs a sonogram, boom, it’s right there,” Dr. Harry explained.
Additionally, he pointed to the fact that in the United States where lawsuits are the norm, medical practitioners have to be extra careful with their diagnosis.
While not knocking his former colleagues in Guyana, Harry stated that they need to be more circumspect in what they do.

“They really need to hit the target in terms of their diagnosis. Even if they speculate at the beginning, they need to have a working diagnosis. They need to do a bit more with coming up with the correct diagnosis somewhere down the line.”
He used his own mother as an example.
“They were saying to me that my mother had some kind of heart problem when in fact all she had was some gall bladder stones that were causing her abdominal pains. They had the woman in the ICU, charging us over $250,000 dollars for nothing. It is that kind of approach that is not encouraged in the United States.
If that had happened, some doctor would have been walking eating grass,” he said.
He was bold enough to suggest that the Guyana Medical Council was very soft on doctors who violate medical procedures.
He stressed the importance of constant research in the ever-evolving world of medicine.
“In the US before you even leave residency, you have to do some amount of research papers. There is no way you can escape that. Guyana has great potential. We have a lot of tropical diseases that we can actually work towards finding out more about them. Patients are always there but it’s just the resources that have to be acquired,” Dr. Harry emphasised.
But apart from practicing medicine, Harry is also a part time teacher in Medical Assistance at the Franklyn Career Institute in Brooklyn.
Being away from Guyana has taken its toll on Harry. For one he misses his family and friends but would keep in constant contact with them by telephone, especially those from the North Ruimveldt Church of the Nazarene. To make up he has had to make new friends.
He is married but does not have children as yet.
He is presently a member of the Victory Nazarene Ministries on Roderick Avenue and Lincoln Road, Brooklyn.
Through the Brooklyn church he was fortunate to participate in a 10-day missionary trip to Nigeria as the only physician on the team. He informed that the trip to Nigeria was very inspirational since one of his life’s ambitions is to be a medical missionary.
“I love the church and those who know me would know that that is what I live for,” he stated.
He remembers his former colleagues who remain in Guyana like Dr. Akintunde Watson, Dr. Ramsundar Doobay and Dr. Clyde Bowman to name a few.
As the interview was winding down, Dr. Harry was keen to remind that there is a dire need for a mentorship programme at the university medical school to guide prospective doctors.
“Even the senior doctors, they are the ones who should be meeting with the students and mentor them as to what they want in life and how to get there.
Over here the attending physicians normally meet with residents and will guide them along, so that they can realize their full potential.
We have people with the skill and knowledge who can guide young doctors along, and it’s just a matter of people getting up and doing it,” Dr. Harry stated.

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