Regulation of professionals needed in Guyana

Jul 14, 2018 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
I write today on the need for regulation of professionals in Guyana.
I’ll start with medical doctors. In Guyana there are too many doctors masquerading as consultants but they do not have the required qualifications. Many of them would have travelled overseas to do a one-year master’s and return as consultants.
Becoming a consultant requires at least 10-15 years of post graduate studies. These individuals place patients’ lives at risk, since they do not have the required skills or knowledge to function at the level of a consultant.
I remember a few years back a respected medical practitioner was trying to rectify this appalling situation but received lots of resistance from those not wanting to be identified as ‘quacks’.
The medical council needs to be more proactive on regulation. Only a few years back we had a doctor who was suspended from practising in America. That doctor turned up in Guyana and was given employment, putting patients’ lives at risk. Due diligence should have been done on him. That’s just highlights the fact that Guyanese believe that anyone coming up from Britain, Canada or America are good. No questions need to be asked.
I will now turn to the oil sector. I am no oil and gas consultant. I don’t know anything about oil and gas. Quite frankly I can just about spell oil and gas. Now that oil has been discovered in Guyana, we will have a whole range of characters turning up and expecting to be addressed as consultants or experts.
Some of these characters would just simply spend a day rolling in the snow and delude themselves that they are consultants. The Government should have a regulatory body to look into all oil and gas consultants’ credentials to make sure that they are qualified.
The regulatory body should set minimum standards and require references from previous employers or universities if not previously employed as a consultant. We cannot afford to get this wrong. Poor advice from unqualified professionals can have serious consequences.
Next, I would look at accountants. Lots of accountants are calling themselves chartered accountants when they are not. This again highlights the need for a regulatory body. Guyanese are being short changed by these so-called chartered accountants. Something needs to be done about this.
Other professions that require regulation include pharmacy, nursing, physiotherapy, economics, engineers etc. We need strong regulatory bodies to ensure that professionals are who they are saying they are.
Finally, I would look at overseas universities. In the UK, we have the Russell Group of Universities and polytechnics. The Russell Group of Universities represent the top 24 universities in the U.K. They are the prestigious universities, the elites, where the crème de la crème attend.
Polytechnics were given university status in 1992 to expand the pool of Universities. Fact be told that polytechnics can only attract poor quality academics and poor quality students. University education in the UK is quite an expensive investment, so students would try to ensure that their degree is worth the paper it is written on.
As a result, most if not all locals will apply to The Russell Group of Universities. The polytechnics attract very poor quality students. Most of them are overseas students who do not know better. Most of them cannot speak English and are given a crash course in English by the polytechnics before starting their course.
Some of them have very poor entry grades, but because of minimum standards set out by the UK government they cannot be admitted for the course of study. What the polytechnics do to get around this is to do a one year upgrading course. Because the polytechnics want the students’ money, all are inevitably passed.
In closing I would say, I do feel it is important that the Government should have professional regulatory bodies to review the qualifications and credentials of overseas graduates. If not, Guyanese will suffer, and brilliant Guyanese students will be made to feel inferior by these arrogant international graduates.
In the medical field in the UK, the medical council has a list of universities that they would not accept their graduates because of poor standards. I cannot speak of other professions, but I would not be surprised if that’s the case.
To all Guyanese: Wake up. Don’t be silent. Don’t be fooled. Not because it is foreign makes it better than the local. We are a brilliant people. Believe in yourself.
Thank you, Editor, for indulging me. I felt like I had to do this for our people.
Regards
Dr. Mark Devonish MBBS MSc MRCP (UK)
Consultant Acute Medicine
Nottingham University Hospital
UK

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