Dear Editor,
Dr Madan Rambaran takes the cake with his letter titled ‘We should seek to keep the discourse on Dr Vishwamintra Persaud intelligent and civilized’ (SN, December 1) Dr Rambaran says in his opening line “The issues pertaining to Dr Vishwamintra Persaud are already sufficiently complex and difficult.” Really? A convicted sex offender disbarred from the practice of medicine in New York should be disbarred from practice of medicine in Guyana. Is that complex and difficult? This is from the decision of the OPMC: “Ordered, pursuant to the New York Public Health Law 230(12)(b), effective immediately, Vishwamintra Persaud, M.D. shall not practice medicine in the State of New York or in any other jurisdiction where that practice is predicated on a valid New York State licence to practice medicine.” Bottomline, Dr Persaud cannot practise medicine in Guyana because he lacks a valid licence from New York. Not complex. Not difficult. So, Dr Rambaran’s explanation is nothing more than reduction of professionalism, morality and integrity in a society already foundering in the grip of elected dictatorship, the breakdown of the rule of law and easy moral escapism.
Dr Rambaran’s lecture about ‘humanity’ is invalidated by Dr Rambaran himself in his next paragraph where he confirms that Dr Persaud’s humanity was indeed already considered when the judge ordered protection, probation and a lesser fine instead of imprisonment and a higher fine. Dr Persaud got this lighter sentence after he pleaded guilty not after he went to trial maintaining his innocence. His humanity was always in consideration in a justice and legal system that is light years ahead of the one that exists in Guyana and before a tribunal of his peers. Apparently, the GPHC decided to employ Dr Persaud because he was not a serial offender. Repeated crimes over a four-year period against a vulnerable minor are serial. As serial as it gets. So serial that nowhere in the Caribbean would Dr Persaud be employed. Only in Guyana. Dr Persaud was not imprisoned but he is still on an eight-year protection order and a ten-year probation order. He did not end the abuse himself. He was ‘outed.’ It does not matter that the crimes were not committed in the workplace. It matters that the crimes were committed and they were of a severe and reprehensible nature against a vulnerable person. Maybe Guyana should advertise for all those disbarred doctors in the developed world who committed offences against a single person and were not imprisoned but were convicted, and placed under protection and probation.
Dr Rambaran says he “may” have erred in recommending Dr Persaud’s employment. It is not a case of “may have erred.” He erred.
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell
