Breaking News: Dr Vishwamintra Persaud fired

Child sex felon Dr Vishwamintra Persaud has been fired from his position at the Georgetown Hospital, Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy said today in a press release.

The move comes amid a raging controversy as to how the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation could have hired the doctor after his licence was terminated in the US after his conviction there.

According to New York Department of Health documents, on April 18, 2008 Dr 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.

Dr 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 His licence, # 207867, was revoked in November 2007, following a hearing before the State of New York’s Department of Health State Board for Professional Medical Conduct.

The GPHC had said that it was aware of the conviction but that should not have prevented his hiring particularly as it alleged that the Medical Council of Guyana had been aware of his conviction. The head of the new Medical Council has stoutly denied that the council had been aware of the conviction.

It subsequently summoned Dr Persaud to a hearing and is to issue a verdict on the matter.

The employment of Dr Persaud was particularly embarrassing as it came amid an intense campaign against sexual offences mounted by the Ministry of Human Services.

Below is the text of a statement issued moments ago by Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy.

“Dr. Vishwamintra Persaud is no longer working at GPHC.

Dr Vishwamintra Persaud
Dr Vishwamintra Persaud

I apologize to all persons we have offended by the decision of the GPHC to offer employment to Dr. Persaud. Whiles at the time we only considered the benefits of adding another experienced doctor to our roster at the GPHC, we could have been more careful in considering the circumstances.

This matter is behind us and we are now focused on the work at hand – which is to provide everyone that comes to our hospital with the best quality care we can give. We have learnt important and invaluable lessons from this experience.

There are many very committed and dedicated health care providers. We try to do our work to the best of our ability and, unfortunately, we make mistakes sometimes.

The laws as contained in the Sexual Offences Act happen to be our laws and we should ensure that each time we employ someone, anyone, we must also consider whether such offer of employment contravenes the Sexual Offenses Act. We erred in not ensuring that the employment of Dr.

Persaud was in compliance with the Sexual Offenses Act.

We have taken all necessary remedial action.

As Minister of Health, it is my responsibility to ensure that in making certain decisions we have taken into consideration all relevant matters. It is clear that in this case we did not take into consideration the various implications of this case and clearly the provisions of the Sexual Offenses Act were relevant. In so doing, we have offended many persons and I apologize on my behalf and on behalf of my ministry.

It is my responsibility as Minister of Health to advise the GPHC that the employment of anyone should take into consideration the provisions of the Sexual Offense Act. I failed to offer advice to the GPHC and in this regards, the blame is entirely mine.

Since the enactment of the Sexual Offenses Act, the Ministry of Health should have advised all the regulatory bodies also that in considering registration and licensing of professionals, care must be taken that such persons are eligible for registration and licensing not only in accordance with the provisions of the relevant professional body law, but also in accordance with the Sexual Offenses Act. In this regards, I should have offered better advice to the Medical Council.

We have now taken action to advise all professional bodies under the Ministry of Health that registration and licensing should take into consideration the provisions of the Sexual Offenses Act.”

Hon. Leslie Ramsammy

Minister of Health

November 30, 2010