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Watchdog body criticizes silence over transfer of whistle-blowing nurse

May 27, 2018 News

 

Watchdog body, Transparency Institute Guyana Inc. (TIGI) has criticized the silence of two major bodies over the transfer of a West Berbice murder who allegedly blew the whistle on senior official said to be involved in abuses.
TIGI disclosed that on June 25 and June 26, 2017, it issued a statement on the treatment of Nurse Sherilyn Marks which was published in the press.
“TIGI added its voice to the voices of many that were raised in opposition to the act of transferring her from the Fort Wellington Hospital in response to her exposing the abuse of power by a Councillor attached to the APNU (a major component of the APNU-AFC Coalition Government), to access prescription narcotic injections.
“Ms. Marks was transferred from her post on April 19, 2017 and she remains in that state to date.”
TIGI said that in the meantime, the government tabled a Protected Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) legislation and it was passed unanimously in Parliament.
However, laws will not be effective when there is a lack of will to make them work and the fact that Ms. Marks’s situation has not been rectified is ominous of the kind of dissonance in the political class that can render whistleblower legislation inconsequential if it does become law.”
The body said that in relation to actions taken by Marks, there were promises of investigations to determine whether she, in fact, breached any rules of the public service.
“The Guyana Nursing Council, the Guyana Medial Council and the Ministry of Public Health, were to conduct investigations. These investigations would have uncovered whether Ms. Marks was in breach of the public service rules, whether doctors were complicit and whether the actions against her were inappropriate.”
TIGI noted that the Guyana Public Service Union is on record as indicating that it stands with Nurse Marks in asserting that she was not in breach of any rules.
“It asserts that Nurse Marks acted professionally. The Union also indicated that it held discussions with various entities on behalf of Ms. Marks but has been unable to secure a reversal of the actions taken against her.”
TIGI said that it wrote to both the Guyana Nursing Council (delivered on November 20, 2017) and the Guyana Medical Council (initially delivered on December 21, 2017) to enquire about the status of investigations.
The Guyana Nursing Council responded, received on December 18, 2017, to indicate that it is not in a position to provide an update.
“This response failed to even indicate whether or not investigations were initiated. We find this to be appalling. Even if the council does not wish to divulge details of the investigation, there is nothing preventing it from indicating whether or not there was an investigation and whether or not it was completed. There is a difference between confidentiality and secrecy. The former is thought-out and key information can be deleted; the latter lacks such finesse.”
However, this response, or lack thereof, is more than that received from the Guyana Medical Council to date, the body said.
A January 10, 2018 a phone call from TIGI to the Council revealed that its letter that was delivered on December 21, 2017 was misplaced.
“We then sent an electronic copy on January 10, and receipt was acknowledged the following day. We followed-up by email on February 8, 2018 (no response) and again on February 28, 2018 and a response was received on February 28, 2018 indicating that the matter was still engaging the attention of the Council. To date (now May 26, 2018) we have not received a response to the content of the letter from the Guyana Medical Council.”
The failure of both the Guyana Nursing Council and the Guyana Medical Council to take action in this matter—or, at the very least, to respond to TIGI’s legitimate questions on behalf of the Guyanese public—smacks of a cover-up, the body insisted.
“Leading health care professionals should surely be anxious to provide appropriate treatment for the Councillor, and to support Nurse Marks for having followed correct procedures in an admittedly difficult situation.
“Indeed, we at TIGI believe that Nurse Sherilyn Marks should be given a national award in recognition of her courage especially in context of the lack of protection for whistleblowers in Guyana.”
Nurse Marks reportedly raised attention to the councillor, Carol Joseph, receiving medication, addictive ones, under questionable circumstances.

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