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Doctor clears name after 11-year battle against Medical Council
A Guyanese doctor whose name was unceremoniously removed from the list of Registered
Dr. John Austin
Medical Practitioners in Guyana by the Medical Council of Guyana has won his case after an 11 ½ years battle. Dr John Austin’s name was removed in April 2005.
The matter came to an end recently in the High Court of Guyana when Justice James Bovell- Drakes quashed the decision of the medical council to remove Dr. Austin from the list of Medical Practitioners made back in April 2005.
The action resulted from the death of a patient who was surgically operated on by Dr. Austin. A surgical procedure was performed on the patient on November 1, 2004, the patient subsequently died on November 4, 2004 at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Dr. Austin in his contention stated that he was not given a fair hearing. Attorney-at-law Benjamin Gibson, who represented Dr. Austin, contended that the decision of the Medical Council to remove Dr. Austin’s name from the list of medical practitioners was illegal. He contended that the Council did not give Dr. Austin a reasonable chance to defend himself against the claims made against him.
According to Dr. Austin, a one-time Member of Parliament with The People’s National Congress, he was summoned to defend the charges made against him; however, at the time his attorney Mr. Benjamin Gibson was out of the country for medical reasons.
Dr. Austin noted that his attorney was absent and thus he refused to ask or answer any questions. He was then asked to go outside. His name was then removed from the register of Medical Practitioners.
Dr. Austin did his MBBS in 1980 in Lagos, Nigeria. He also did his Master of Science with specialty in Anatomy also in Nigeria in 1984. In 2000 he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (F.R.C.S.I) in Ireland.
Dr. Austin lamented the injustice meted out to him by the Medical Council. Back then, he held a number of key positions in the medical sector in Guyana including Government Medical Officer, Surgical Preceptor at the School of Medicine (where he taught doctors), Registrar in Surgical Department at Georgetown Hospital, Registrar in the Surgical Department at the New Amsterdam Hospital, Medical Superintendent New Amsterdam Hospital and Regional Health Officer of Region Six.
Austin is now in the process of having his name fully re-entered by the Medical Council of Guyana. He is also weighing his options.
The matter of the Medical Council was dealt with by the Attorney General Chambers and among those that appeared were Doodnauth Singh, Anil Nandlall and Priya Manickchand.
The decision was entered on October 28, last and Dr. Austin was also awarded cost.
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