New Chairman of the Medical Council of Guyana Dr. Sheik Amir said yesterday that past members of the body were unaware child sex felon Dr Vishwamintra Persaud was convicted of a crime when they granted him a licence to practice here.
The new council has since launched an investigation into the doctor’s past. “I was on the previous council, so I am telling you this is new information and, like all things the council does, we give due process to information we receive,” Dr Amir told reporters yesterday.
He said the council would be guided by its attorney and that contact would be made with the New York health authority which revoked Dr Persaud’s licence, following his conviction in 2008, as part of a verification process. It was only this week that “the new information” regarding Dr. Persaud reached the council.
Dr Amir insisted that the previous council had no knowledge of the conviction. However, the Director of the Medical Services at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) Dr Madan Rambarran has claimed that the council members were fully aware of this fact. GPHC is Dr. Persaud’s current employer and according to Dr Rambarran, when he applied for employment it was known that his license was revoked and the circumstances surrounding the revocation was also known. “The medical council with that knowledge and with whatever other information they had at their disposal made a determination and in their judgment offered him an institutional registration, meaning registration to work in an institution with some degree of supervision,” Dr Rambarran said yesterday.
Dr Rambarran made it clear that in the interim, Dr Persaud would remain employed since based on the report of his supervisor they have no reason to believe that he has posed any risk or danger to any of his patients and the population at large.
Institutional licence
Dr Amir said Dr Persaud was granted an institutional licence, which limits him to one hospital and stipulates that he work under supervision, after he failed to submit a certificate of good standing to the council. “One of the requirements to be registered in Guyana is that you are Guyanese.
He is Guyanese. But based on what was submitted, there was a letter of explanation and we granted an institutional licence, which is kind of a probation licence,” Dr Amir explained.
He added that at no time was the council informed that Dr Persaud was convicted of any crime and the only reason the doctor was granted an institutional licence was because he did not provide a certificate of good standing from the previous registering body.
Probed as to why the doctor was still granted a license without the submission of a good standing certificate, Dr Amir said there have been instances in the past where for various reasons persons were not granted certificates of good standing. “And because he explained some things in his letter and that is why the institutional licence [was granted],” he added. “As I said we have this new information, we are investigating it and we have to go through a detailed step by step before we make any rash decisions because you know the decisions can be cause for more concerns….”
Dr Amir said the doctor has since been written and asked to explain the new information to the council within seven days. During the investigation, the documents that the previous council was furnished with would be verified.
Those documents would have been his qualification, his resume and the current registration.
According to Dr Amir, the previous council had issued the licence to Dr Persaud based on documents submitted but in light of the new information they have received, “an investigation must be done.”
It was noted that the information about Dr Persaud reached the new council earlier this week during the transition from the old council to the new one. The new council only met two days ago.
No problem
Meanwhile, Dr Rambarran told reporters that it was based on the decision of the council and on its own decision that the GPHC okayed the employment of Dr Persaud. He said the doctor has been working with the institution for the past two months under supervision and there has been no problem with his medical competence or otherwise. “In terms of these new so-called revelations, I am not sure what is new about them that was already not known, but having said that the medical council would have to determine if they want to re-visit their decision to register him and we would be partly be guided by that in terms of if they revoke the registration which means of course we would have to suspend his employment,” he said.
Questioned whether it is “normal” for the council or any medical institution to employ someone with a sexual misconduct conviction, Dr Rambarran pointed out that there are some facts pertaining to Dr Persaud and he has had punishment and made restitution.
“The council in its determination had to ask itself does he pose a danger and up to this point and time he does not pose a danger.”
Dr Rambarran admitted that usually before a doctor is granted a licence they must be registered where they were qualified and must show the status of the registration.
“But there are also conditions, because of whatever context and certain circumstances they have also, where they can make a decisions and judgments in the absence of those conditions being made,” he said.
As to whether the hospital is embarrassed by the public ventilation of Dr Persaud’s issue, Dr Rambarran said: “I don’t know if embarrassed, we are concerned, we will follow through on it, we will examine again… and we will continue to re-examine issues and questions and try to find the best solution as we move along, whether in this matter or any other matter.”
He stressed that Dr Persaud is competent and noted that he could reapply for his license in New York.
According to New York Department of Health documents, on April 18, 2008 Dr Persaud was found guilty, based on a guilty plea, of “attempted course of sexual conduct against a child in the second degree.” On June 11, the same year, he was sentenced to an eight-year order of protection, ten years probation, fined US$25,500 and various fees and surcharges.
Dr Persaud abused the child from 2003 to October 2007 and only stopped after an adult was told. His licence, # 207867, was revoked in November 2007, following a hearing before the State of New York’s Department of Health State Board for Professional Medical Conduct.
Two Sundays ago, Dr Persaud had helped to safely deliver 19-year-old Shinnel George’s baby. George was at the time suffering from high blood pressure and preeclampsia.
