As stated in yesterday’s editorial, the complaint by nurse, Ms Sherlyn Marks against the former Region Five councillor Ms Carol Joseph raises issues as it relates to protection of whistleblowers and whether the transfer of the nurse was a blatant attempt to punish her for being forthright.
A range of other matters will arise which could have serious legal repercussions. The resignation of Ms Joseph from the Region Five Council will not end this troubling episode. Her departure from the council may have been seen as a way of swiftly ending this controversy but that is unlikely given the issues at stake. The public will remember Ms Joseph for her months-long siege of the Region Five council meetings over a perceived slight by the Chairman to President Granger. Ms Joseph doesn’t give up easily and her swift resignation following the Stabroek News reports on the complaints against her would raise even more questions.
At the crux of the complaint is whether Ms Joseph was able to use her clout and force of personality as a Region Five councillor to have more dosages of medication than she was entitled to or should have had. The corollary to this was that someone in the regional health system was possibly facilitating her access to the medication. That in itself would lead to a different set of investigations in addition to the cost to the public health system of any such abuse.
It is maddening that more than a year after the historic local government elections, the Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan is yet to ensure that the Local Government Commission is in place as it would undoubtedly have played a part in investigating aspects of this matter involving Ms Joseph and Ms Marks. Minister Bulkan has had enough time to have this commission in place but has made a series of specious excuses. The Local Government Commission must be composed immediately and he must take action to clear whatever hurdles exist.
In ordinary circumstances, the Regional Health Officer, Dr Stephen Chefoon would have been called upon to investigate the reports of Ms Joseph’s access to medication at the Fort Wellington Hospital. However, he has also been named at the centre of the allegations. He can therefore not be a part of these investigations and his own conduct in this matter could lead to a complaint against him.
There is no evidence of action by senior persons in the health system. Nurse Marks’ complaint was copied to the Director of Regional Health Services, Dr Kay Shako. There has thus far been no word from Dr Shako or any sign of her intervention despite the publicising of this controversy. If the Regional Health Officer was himself at the centre of the complaint then it would be logical that Dr Shako would take up the complaint. It appears that this did not happen. What about the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud? His response to Stabroek News was vague. He could not remember the details of the matter but knew that it had been sent to the Medical Council of Guyana (MCG). Whoever decided to refer this matter to the MCG was obviously playing for time or trying to prevent an investigation of this matter. The MCG had no locus standi at this point as it was not yet investigating the alleged misconduct of a member of the medical profession. The nurse’s complaint was also copied to then Public Health Minister Dr George Norton but he, too, did nothing about it.
The lack of action by the Ministry of Public Health on the complaint constitutes dereliction of duty and a disservice to a nurse who acted conscientiously. It was for the Ministry of Public Health and the Fort Wellington Hospital to investigate the circumstances of Ms Joseph’s access to the treatment, whether it was covered by prescription, whether it was in excess of what should have been administered and whether the person/persons administering was/were complicit in an illegality. Now that the matter is in the public domain, the Ministry has a second opportunity to conduct an investigation and it must do this soonest.
The Ministry should designate a senior officer to examine the complaint of Nurse Marks and to speak to the principal players involved, Ms Joseph and Dr Chefoon. Corroborating information should be sought from other staff at the hospital. Documentary evidence already exists of the frequency with which Ms Joseph accessed the treatment at the Fort Wellington Hospital and this in itself should be the cinch. The findings of the Ministry of Public Health probe should be used to determine what action should be taken against any medical personnel of the hospital who operated unprofessionally and whether their conduct would have to be complained of before other bodies such as the MCG. If necessary the facts should also be examined to determine whether law enforcement should be called in.
The precipitate action by the Regional Executive Officer of Region Five, Mr Ovid Morrison in transferring Nurse Marks also requires investigation. Mr Morrison must have good grounds for moving to transfer Nurse Marks, otherwise he, too, should be liable to answer for his actions, if not before the Local Government Commission, then some other body. His reason for transferring Nurse Marks to Bath/Experiment with immediate effect was that it was “in an effort to establish good vaccination coverage within this catchment area”. If Nurse Marks is adept at vaccinating, her serious complaints over many months of undue injecting of medication were surely worth considered investigation by all involved.
When taken all together, the stasis in addressing the complaint by Nurse Marks points firmly in the direction of officials in the health system being unwilling to bring Ms Joseph to account because of her well-known activism on behalf of the behemoth in the governing coalition, the PNCR. This is extremely dangerous and the governing coalition must make it clear to its members that the rule of law must apply equally to all and no transgression will escape scrutiny. Those in authority can begin showing respect for this maxim by moving to have the transfer of Nurse Marks reversed.
