‘I will not make a decision based on press reports’ - Ramsammy

‘I will not make a decision based on press reports’ – Ramsammy

Jan 20, 2010 News

By Fareeza Haniff

Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, has made it clear that with respect to the issue of medical attention received by the teenager who was tortured while in police custody, he will not make his decision on the recommendations for the police doctor based on reports that have appeared in the media since the incident.
In an invited comment yesterday at the Regency Suites, Minister Ramsammy told members of the media that the issue is one that involves the life and work of Dr. Mahendra Chand.
“I need to make a decision and I’m not going to make it based on press reports. This is somebody’s life and I must understand the real issue…and I’m not saying that you (the media) have misreported it. But if I depend on the media to make a decision, then that would be setting a precedent that is terrible,” Dr. Ramsammy stated.
The Medical Council after completing its investigations recommended that Dr. Chand be suspended for two months. This recommendation has since been sent to Minister Ramsammy for a decision.
However, according to the Health Minister, he needs to study the reports from the medical council along with the recommendations.
“I don’t believe that the recommendations were extreme or anything like that, but it has to fit what exactly occurred.”
While pointing out that the torture issue is totally unrelated to the doctor, Minister Ramsammy conceded that some ethical issues were involved in the treatment of the tortured teen.
In this aspect, the Health Minister noted that he has to study those ethical issues to verify whether in concurrence with the law, the doctor may have breached certain rules.
“I do not want – as has happened with every single medical council issue – for people to go to the court and overturn it (the decision). Over the last few years, every matter that the medical council has acted on has attracted some injunction from the court.”
During their investigations, the medical council had the choice to do one of three things if they found that something was not done in the best interest of the teen – they can take away the licence of the doctor; suspend him for a certain period of time, or rebuke the practitioner by informing him that he acted wrong, but will be allowed to continue his practice under some scrutiny.
However, the Council has since recommended that he be suspended for two months.
Currently, the police surgeon, Dr. Mahendra Chand, who treated the tortured teen while he was in police custody is still on the job and performing duties for the Guyana Police Force.
Dr. Chand had told Kaieteur News that a police officer had visited his home on October 29, 2009, and asked him to examine a prisoner at the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station.
The physician admitted to Kaieteur News during the interview that he never sought to ascertain the patient’s identity.
Dr. Chand recounted that the prisoner was brought out from the lock-ups with his head concealed.
“His head was covered and I thought that he was just another prisoner in a domestic matter who was brought in with injuries and that the police were trying to conceal his identity. I did not know who I was treating,” Dr. Chand had said.
The now 15-year-old boy was brutally tortured by ranks at the Leonora Police Station, and was only taken to seek medical attention after this newspaper revealed a gruesome photograph of his burnt genitals.
The teenager who was detained by detectives in late October was doused with a flammable liquid and set alight, which resulted in burns to his lower torso, genitals and thighs.
The doctor said that he examined the prisoner’s injuries, which amounted to first-degree burns and prescribed some antibiotic medication, including Silverdeen.
He then advised that the prisoner be taken to a hospital for better medical attention.
At no time was he aware that he was treating a juvenile who had suffered torture at the hands of the police.
“I did not know that the police had anything to do with the prisoner’s injuries,” Dr. Chand had told reporters from this newspaper.

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‘I will not make a decision based on press reports’ – Ramsammy

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