The Medical Council of Guyana (MCG) has said that it will soon begin investigations of three doctors attached to the Fort Wellington Hospital, regarding the roles they played in the matter where former Region Five councillor Carol Joseph was accused of abusing her authority to access large amounts of prescription pain medication.
“We will very soon start our investigations into this matter. We just received the complaint. We are making moves to request to get records and such,” Head of the MCG Dr Navindranauth Rambarran told Stabroek News.
A formal complaint was made by PPP/C Member of Parliament Harry Gill against Dr Steven Cheefoon, Dr Ivelaw Sinclair and Dr Adrian Van Nooten, who are all attached to the Fort Wellington Public Hospital, West Coast Berbice. Dr Cheefoon is also the Regional Health Officer of Region Five.
Joseph resigned from the Region Five Regional Democratic Council on April 21 this year, two days after Stabroek News published a report on her alleged abuse of medication. The matter had been drawn to the public’s notice by Gill after Nurse Sherlyn Marks reported to him that her complaints to senior medical officials about the Joseph case had been ignored. Marks was abruptly transferred by Region Five Regional Executive Officer Ovid Morrison after the news item on Joseph’s case appeared in this newspaper. Morrison’s transfer of the nurse has been condemned and there have been calls for it to be rescinded.
Thus far, neither the Ministry of Public Health nor the Ministry of Communities has launched any investigation into this matter.
Gill pointed out in the complaint to the MCG that Nurse Marks had written to then Minister of Public Health Dr George Norton on the matter on December 13, 2016. In that letter, Marks had she was being harassed and intimidated by Joseph because of the complaint she had lodged with Dr Chefoon about the medication. Marks also sent her letter to a number of other regional and health officials who did nothing about it.
Gill noted that the Medical Practitioners (Code of Conduct and Standards of Practice) Regulations 2008 – Responsibilities to Patients, Regulation 7- paragraph (5) states: “A medical practitioner shall not expose his patients to risks which may arise from a compromise of their own health status (eg dependence on alcohol or other drugs, HIV infection, hepatitis and the like).” In addition, Regulation 36- paragraph (11) reads: “The Medical Council may regard the prescription or supply of drugs of dependence otherwise than in the course of bona fide treatment as a serious professional misconduct.”
Gill urged that the MCG conduct the investigation, in keeping with its own Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, to protect the integrity of the medical profession.
Meanwhile, the Head of the MCG explained that the investigative process will be a thorough one and because of the protocols that need to be followed, it could take a while.
“There is a protocol regarding how we handle investigations of this nature. The complainant delivered his letter and it was circulated to members of the council. We have to write to him to acknowledge receipt and then we will start requesting the charts and so on,” Rambarran said.
“We have to write to all the persons involved and bring them in for questioning. You have to let natural justice take its course so you have to also give the persons enough time to respond. After the gathering of all information we will deliberate and then conclude. This process will take several weeks or up to a month. We can’t and won’t just rush it. It is serious and it has to be thorough.”
But while the alleged actions of the doctors are being investigated, Nurse Marks remains posted at a neighbourhood clinic where she was sent the day after this newspaper reported on the matter.
Relatives have said that she feels abandoned and let down by a system she felt was there to promote whistle blowing. “She is sometimes depressed that no one has come to her side or no government official has said anything on the matter. Every day she still has to report to the work they transferred her to…,” a relative told this newspaper.
Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan had said that he would intervene if he established that Marks was transferred because she had blown the whistle. But to date, Marks’ relatives pointed out, Bulkan, who is the minister responsible for local government offices, has not contacted the nurse.
Sources told this newspaper that Morrison has also not been spoken to by Bulkan on the matter.
The Minister of Communities had told Stabroek News that his government did not want to be ever seen as targeting whistle blowers and condoning acts of retaliation against those who were brave enough to speak on out issues of corruption, especially when it promotes whistle blowing as part of its transparency mechanism.
“I would probably seek a more in-depth explanation because at face value it seems that the coincidence [of Marks’ transfer] was a little extraordinary,” Bulkan said.
“We cannot discourage whistle blowers we have to promote persons out there who are prepared and who have the courage to expose corruption wherever it may be taking place. We cannot sweep things under the carpet. Should we do so, and we are reminded by our leader that were we to adopt that approach, by 2020 the carpet would be thick and we do not want that.”
The Ministry of Public Health which has the responsibility for nurses in the public healthcare system has not said anything on the matter.
Marks had informed that the day after the story was published she was asked to report to the ministry’s Brickdam office, where she was told that Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence would look into her matter when she returned from an overseas assignment. Months have passed since Lawrence has returned but nothing has been said to Marks on the issue.
“All she can do is go to her work and pray that somebody looks at her case and maybe send her back to the hospital. Then again, sometimes she goes there and get victimized by the doctors she has to work with. What she can do? This country would frustrate anybody I tell you,” the nurse’s relatives lamented.
