– Ramsammy insists that it is not recognised
SEVERAL students, yesterday, visited the Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, and reported that a woman, involved in a   similar scheme that became known in 2009, defrauded them into paying monies for a nursing course. The students paid $4,000 for registration and another $7,500 each month to secure the qualifications they wanted, since the   majority of them are unqualified.
Ramsammy stressed that the bogus nursing school is not recognised by the Health Ministry, since it is not registered with   the Accreditation Board of the Education Ministry.
He added that in addition to that no accreditation can be given unless it goes through the local Nursing Council – none of   that was done.
The Health Minister pointed out that in order to receive accreditation a number of things must first be in place, a   curriculum being just one.
According to him, the students requested a refund from the woman, after they became convinced of the illegal activity, and   were not satisfied by the response they received so they took the matter to the police.
The woman has since gone into hiding and the issue is now a police matter.
The proprietrix of the school, known to use a number of aliases, took the students in with advertisements published in the   local newspapers.
Ramsammy said the students, completely unaware, were taken in by the woman’s assurances that the school was recognised.
“It is not recognised by us,” Ramsammy stressed.
He added that the woman in question told the students that they would be able to complete a three-year course in one year.
In 2009 the woman was taken into police custody following allegations that she had defrauded a number of her students.
The students defrauded then were only made aware of their predicament when the Health Minister exposed the illegal   operation at a press briefing.
Ramsammy, at that briefing said: “As Minister of Health, I have had to previously intervene to stop unscrupulous persons   from operating “training” schools for nursing and other Allied Health Professions.”
Currently the institutions offering nursing or health courses are: the University of Guyana, the Schools of Nursing of the   Ministry of Health at Linden, New Amsterdam and Georgetown, the Ministry of Health’s training Annexe, the St. Joseph Mercy   Hospital and Davis Memorial Hospital.