Young physicians should aspire to greater heights

– Guyanese FACP returnee Dr. Ghansham Singh urges
MEDICAL Doctor (MD) and recently accredited Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP), Ghansham Singh, who recently returned to Guyana is encouraging other young physicians to aspire to greater heights in their careers.
“Becoming a Fellow is the pinnacle of a physician’s career and young physicians should aspire to getting those letters behind their names,” Singh said.

A specialist in Internal Medicine, he explained that being able to specialise in an area as opposed to being a general practitioner is fulfilling.
“It is fulfilling because you are able to tend to acutely ill patients,” Singh exhorted.
Singh left Guyana’s shores some 20 years ago after working at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) as a Medical Officer. After leaving he completed studies and the prerequisites needed to practice in New York City. An internship and residency at the Cornell Affiliated Hospital followed and subsequently Singh completed the American Board on Internal Medicine exam.
“Getting the training is what distinguishes your medical career,” he said.
Singh later became the Programme Director of the Medicine Residency Programme at Cornell Affiliated Hospital and advanced to Assistant Professor in clinical medicine at the same institution.
He said, “By now I had met most of the requirements to become a Fellow and in March I was elected to that position.”
Proud of his accomplishment, Singh reiterated that post graduate qualifications are important since it improves your knowledge base and enables a physician to better respond to situations.
However, he made it clear that academics will never be enough to be able to respond the needs of patients efficiently.
Back home Singh is presently functioning as a consultant in Internal Medicine attached to the GPH and the Woodlands Hospital.
Singh explained that with the hospitals he assists the Medical Officers and interns with what can be termed in the simplest “bedside medicine.”
“It is on the job training. Much of it is academic bit it is supervisory as well, supervisory and educational,” he said.
He is also attached to the University of Guyana and assisting with teaching medical students there.
“Practicing as well as teaching is fulfilling,” Singh said, “Being able to impart knowledge and play a meaningful role is fulfilling.”
He pointed to the fact that a large influx of Cuban trained doctors are expected back in Guyana and said during their internship supervision will be important.
“Supervision from persons in capacity like mine is necessary for when they are doing their internship will prepare them for their appointments. Supervision will make them as capable as possible,” Singh said.
When asked about the response he received so far from health sector stakeholders he has come into contact with, Singh said his contribution has been well received.
“I will be staying,” he posited.
Relative to the developments in the health sector, since his last time here, Singh maintained that there have been improvements.
“There have been tremendous improvements in all areas of clinical medicine in the last 20 years. There is still a far way to go, but there have been improvements,” he said.
Singh highlighted that even with the existing limitations medical practitioners can still function.
According to him it has to do with having the right expectations that make functioning possible.
He observed that once the constraints are understood and there is a genuine willingness to work and build Guyana’s health sector success will be seen.

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