The medical school’s comedy of errors

Sep 11, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
After having done a brief mental self-examination I am now ready to pen these few lines. I daresay that each and every day that I read the local Guyanese newspapers; I try to quell my troubled mind, check my cognition, while racking my brain to find answers to the multiplicity of questions racing through my mind. Currently in Guyana “ who is in charge of the asylum” and perhaps some form of solace may be found in the answer, given in the 1989 film Dr. Caligari by Stephen Sayadia where the doctor becomes the patient and the inmates are left running the asylum.
Point in question is the recent saga surrounding Administrator Nanda Kissoon and the North Shore Medical School. I would certainly feel more mentally relieved if the last two terms were not used as part of the name. If my personal level of cognition serves me correctly, a medical school is a faculty or school of a university that trains would-be medical doctors, with the end result being individuals who would be tasked with caring for the sick and injured with a view to prolonging or saving lives.
In other worlds, medical schools have to be accredited before they can conduct programs aimed at training potential doctors. Accreditation is viewed as the influential tool for quality control and improvement of medical education programs.
Grant me a listening ear as I try to seek answers to the following queries—What role did the National Accreditation Council of Guyana play in this so-called medical school at least opening its doors, let alone being able to take funds from medical students? Only in Guyana, I daresay could such a thing take place.
What are the qualifications of those who compose the Guyana National Accreditation Council? What percentage of this includes trained medical personnel? What were the qualifications of the Administrator, Nanda Kisoon? At what institution would the medical students be receiving their field experience?
Take it or leave it, this situation while lamentable on the part of those who have been scammed, nevertheless cries out (and loudly too), for a deep investigation of the Accreditation Council. Guyana cannot afford to play dolls house when it comes to the training of those who will be ultimately sworn to uphold the Hippocratic Oath. The price to pay is far too high.
To say the least, the Administrator had a chequered (but unchecked) past, with aliases rivaling that of a chameleon. North Shore Medical College was advertised in 2009 as being one of the leading medical colleges in Guyana, offering many professional careers in the Health Care. Dr. Kavita Singh was listed as one of the loan (low) officers.
In 2013, she opened the Inter American Nursing School, and the Guyana Health Care Education Institute, both of which under the watch of the previous government were closed down following discovery of fraud practices. In 2014 she reopened the Inter American Nursing School which was ultimately closed down. How can one human, run roughshod through a system and over so many aspects of governmental regulations.
While the Guyana government with its damaged image may be heading down the direction of charging the administrator with fraud, let me find the weakening radial pulse and demand that in addition the present Government launch a thorough inquiry and investigation. According to a medical practitioner the current system contain loopholes that allow such schemes to proliferate.
Well the game is over; the loopholes are known and have been shown. Armed with the facts the Government Is not called on to act. Nanda Kissoon, through her dastardly actions has not only tarnished her name but has brought a nation to shame. The asylum must be wrenched from the hands of the lunatics.
Yvonne Sam

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News