The Medical Council of Guyana has indicated to child sex felon Dr Vishwamintra Persaud that his name would be officially removed from the register of local medical practitioners.
The council is expected to send off a final letter to Persaud informing him of the decision to remove his name from the register, although he has already received prior notice of this.
Chairman of the Council, Dr Sheik Amir told Stabroek News on Friday that “a decision has been made and he was informed.” However, he said the council is yet to issue Persaud with a final letter.
Dr Amir reiterated that the council found Persaud guilty of misconduct under the rules of the Medical Council after he submitted copies of original documents for his registration. He said the doctor’s character could also be called into question based on his submissions to the council.
“We were misled and in retrospect whether we knew certain things or not, we erred in registering him because his documentation was not in order,” Amir had said earlier.
According to him, the council’s decision is unanimous and in a few days a letter is expected to be dispatched to Persaud. He said that Persaud had requested to meet the council for a second hearing to press his case, but observed, “There was no need to see him again.”
Amir said that after the council had notified Persaud of its decision, he responded asking for a meeting. He said too that Persaud was also questioning the course of action which the council could take against him.
The council’s decision comes nearly a month after the doctor was fired from the Georgetown Public Hospital, and in the wake of reports that he was stripped of his medical licence in the US after he pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted course of sexual conduct against a child in 2008.
Stabroek News recently spoke with Medical Director at the Georgetown Public Hospital and member of the council, Dr Madan Rambarran on the issue, and he briefly commented that if any lesson was learnt from the case it would be that the hospital, “as well as the Medical Council have to be more vigilant in terms of knowing the antecedents of individuals who they are employing.”
Rambarran added that due diligence ought to be exercised in terms of screening any doctor who is seeking employment, including getting their curriculum vitae, confirming their qualifications, “and where they’re coming from.”
Persaud had told Stabroek News in an interview last month that the label of sex offender has ruined him, noting that he might eventually have to turn to pharmacy or “something like that” because of the stigma. He was counting on the council to give him the second chance he is craving. He said his goal was to practise medicine somewhere in this country, because he had already been fired from the public hospital in the city.
Persaud was fired following public condemnation from Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand, who said that she was horrified by the doctor’s employment at the hospital. Prior to her statement, Help and Shelter was vocal in its objection to the doctor’s employment at the hospital. In addition, there were many public disagreements with the decision to hire Persaud.
According to New York Department of Health documents, on April 18, 2008 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.
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.
