The Allied Health Professions Bill 2009 was passed with the support of the House, although the main opposition PNCR’s MPs walked out as Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy stood for the second reading of the Bill. The Bill, which seeks to provide for the registration of members of allied health professions supplementary to the medical profession; the regulation of practice of allied health professions and allied health services; the maintenance of professional standards for allied health professions and health services; and to make provisions for training of members of those professions and services and for related purposes, had been sent to a Special Select Committee after being laid in the House last year.
“This bill says that a professional within the scope of this bill would have to enter a regulatory register and would have to be issued a licence before starting his/her profession. Education alone will not entitle the person to begin to practice immediately,” said Ramsammy. This brings them in line with doctors, nurses and pharmacists and they now have to periodically revalidate their credentials and comply with a code of ethics, he noted. Under the Bill, an Allied Health Professionals Council to regulate those listed in the schedule will be created.
The Bill seeks to immediately regulate 27 new professionals within 15 professions, including those involved in acupuncture therapy, audiology and speech, language pathology, chiropody and podiatry, and others such as X-Ray technicians. Once the Bill is passed, new professions can be added to the Schedule, Ramsammy pointed out.
He said the Bill seeks to ensure the safety of persons who seek health care and is a reiteration of government’s position that health care professionals’ first duty is to act in the best interest of the people. Government believes that health care services must be delivered with a view to reaching the highest ethical standards, he added. In this regard, he noted that services must be conducted with appropriate transparency and in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations, in accordance with evidence based practices and is consistent with safety goals. “We believe that the best way to do this is through statutory regulation,” Ramsammy added, pointing out that physicians, nurses and pharmacists are recognised and governed by regulations.
He acknowledged that the first schedule of the Bill does not include any reference to herbal and naturopathy practitioners, though those persons were whom the Bill originally set out to regulate. Ramsammy said that they have not been able to establish the right parameters by which those practitioners can be regulated. “We are studying how this is being done in other jurisdictions and I must confess that there appears to be confusion at the global level,” he explained. “The fact is that were we to regulate practitioners of naturopathy and herbal medicine the way we regulate all the other professions in Guyana, there would be no one in Guyana qualified to practice herbal medicine and naturopathy,” he continued. He said that the Ministry still intends to regulate those professions and intend to add them before the end of the year.
The lone PNCR Parliamentarian who remained as Ramsammy spoke was Dr. John Austin and he spoke on his party’s behalf. He said that the Bill is necessary for the improved function of the Allied Health Professionals in Guyana but expressed concern about the need for government “intervention” in the choice of the Chairman of the Allied Health Professionals Council, as provided for in the Bill. He said there are provisions in the Bill “for converting the minister into a dictator.” AFC Parliamentarian, Khemraj Ramjattan also said there is merit in concern about “a monopoly of control” in relation to the council.
But Ramsammy dismissed these concerns. He pointed out that the Bill returned to the House with the endorsement of the Select Committee.
