Dear Editor,
I read with interest Dr. Ramsammy’s letter on the subject of Hospital licensing in Guyana `Only two health care facilities have been licensed, ministry has been reckless’.
When we received our licence for 2018 we were made aware of several caveats. One of those being that we must not offer Dialysis unless we have a nephrologist that provides direct supervision. The medical council refused to renew Registration for our Nephrologist who was supervising our patients online from India for many years.
The Council never responded to our letters on the matter and never disclosed if they have any Nephrologists on the Register. However, it appears that they have registered a Nephrologist from one of the Caribbean countries who visits infrequently.
One may ask, is this considered direct supervision?
We acquired the services of a full-time Nephrologist at a cost. We are now asking for a level playing field.
No other private Dialysis centre provides direct supervision, and the Nephrologist at GPHC has institutional registration and therefore it would be illegal for him to visit the private centres.
As an extension of the restrictions imposed on us, all centres not offering direct supervision by a Nephrologist should not be allowed to function, should be deemed unsafe for patients, and should not be able to access NIS and government funding for their patients.
I am requesting the Minister of Health to apply the law uniformly.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Madhu P. Singh, M.D. (Obs & Gynae) C.E.O
Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital Inc.
