Medical practitioners registered to work in the country were recently gazetted and the Medical Council of Guyana has advised that four doctors are not on the list.
The doctors, Dr John Austin, Dr Abdul Mohamed Hafiz, Dr Vishwamintra Persaud and Dr Abdul Wahab were named in a recent notice published by the council as not being licensed to practice medicine in Guyana.
The notice said that anyone seen or attended to by these doctors should report this to the council. The doctors are all reportedly practicing across the country, including child abuse felon Dr Persaud who was fired from the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Chairman of the Council Dr Sheik Amir would only say yesterday that the notice was meant to inform the public. Dr Amir declined to comment on reports that the doctors are all practicing medicine despite not being registered, noting that the council has no power to investigate individual practitioners. “We have a duty to protect the public and the notice is in keeping with that duty,” he added.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that some council members have been told about Dr Persaud working as a medical practitioner since his dismissal and subsequent removal from the register. However, no official report has been made to the council.
On this issue, Dr Amir also had no comment but he said that Dr Persaud was included on the list because his name was recently struck off the register and “many people might not have been aware”.
Dr Austin, a PNCR parliamentarian, has been fighting the council for years in the High Court over his licence after he was struck off the list a few years ago.
He was investigated by the council after a young patient died during a surgery and his licence was revoked, but he is challenging the decision in court.
This newspaper was informed that Dr Hafiz has refused to take up a local internship after his qualifications in Mexico were challenged.
The medical authorities in Mexico reportedly have no record of his training and as a result, he was reportedly urged to take up the internship here; he is said to have a practice in Berbice.
With respect to Dr Wahab he is also in court challenging the council over the refusal to grant him a licence. According to reports, he surfaced as a medical practitioner around the devastating 2005 floods and worked along with local health authorities but when he approached the council for a licence many questions lingered about his qualifications.
