Public Health Minister Dr George Norton has sounded a warning to persons pursuing studies in the medical field at offshore medical institutions.
“North Shore Medical College”
This announcement was made in the wake of numerous complaints of offshore medical institutions fraudulently collecting monies from potential students by falsely claiming to be internationally recognised institutions.
Recently, “North Shore Medical College” which has been in operation for approximately four months at Lamaha Street, Georgetown, has come in for some scrutiny after it was unearthed that the alleged owner, who has several aliases: “Gita Kissoon, Johanna Gray, Juan Singh, Juan Craig, Nanda Kissoon and Nandranie Kissoon” was previously arrested in 2009 after former Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy accused her of operating a bogus medical institution.
In an effort to ascertain the legitimacy of the institution’s USA Branch, Guyana Times made contact through the overseas number provided on the medical school’s website. The call was answered by a female who failed to reveal her identity and who refused to divulge the location of the overseas branch.
Instead the woman explained that all information required could be provided via telephone and, if a prospective student wished to meet with her, they would be required to pay $4800 consultation fee. She failed to say where the meeting would take place.
Currently, students are being charged US$100 as registration, while semester fees start at US$500.
Dr Norton is advising students to seek the Public Health Ministry’s advice before registering at these institutions and more importantly before paying hefty sums. The minister referred to a particular medical institution which made an offer to their students to pay for their pre-med studies and, upon completion of their full medicine programme, the institution would pay the balance for the entire programme.
Dr Norton revealed that not only did this prove to be untrue, but that the students were forced to pay to further their studies without the option of having a refund if they couldn’t afford to continue with the classes, as initially agreed upon by the institution.
Meanwhile, the North Shore Medical College on their website offers a flamboyant future to students, inclusive of the medical institution garnering student visas and providing living accommodation to those who wish to study abroad.
In 2014, the woman who is currently going by the name of “Juan Craig” had reintroduced her medical school under the name of “American Health Care Institute”, which was located on Robb Street, Georgetown.
The students became worried after she failed to appear to supervise their examination, and suspicions surfaced that the university was not real.
In 2009, the woman was arrested; after repaying some of the monies to the students she was released on $100,000 bail. The Director of Public Prosecutions later recommended that no charges be laid against her.
Despite being closed several times by the Ministry of Health, the unaccredited ‘Inter-American Nursing School’ opened its doors again in 2013 under the name “Guyana Health Care Education Institute”, this too was shortly thereafter closed.
Guyana Times visited the location of the medical school on Lamaha Street, and was told by security officers that the woman was served an eviction notice to move from the building by the end of this month.
Addressing concerns as to why students are turning to other institutions, Dr Norton explained that the requirements for entry to the medical schools around the City are less compared to the University of Guyana.
“These other medical schools are far more expensive than the University of Guyana but their requirements of entry are much lower than the University of Guyana,” he added.
The University of Guyana’s School of Medicine lost its accreditation in April 2014 and was served with provisional accreditation until 2015 by Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine (CAAEM)
However, Dr Norton seeks to assure students that the University of Guyana’s School of Medicine will be soon reaccredited since the construction of the clinical building is ongoing.
The medical school was offered accreditation for the periods 2008 to 2009, 2009 to 2012 and 2014 to 2015. It lost its full accreditation after a visit from the CAAEM revealed that a number of recommendations to improve the institution were not adhered to.
In an earlier telephone interview, the Faculty of Health Sciences, Dr Emmanuel Cummings, told Guyana Times that the school of medicine is working assiduously to correct the deficiencies of the past and is hopeful of regaining accreditation for 2016/2017 academic year.
“We are looking at October when they will visit for evaluation of the evidence we have and I am certain that the kind of evidence that we have and what we are doing, accreditation to the medical school will be restored in the new academic year 2016-2017.”
