— radiographer urges Minister Lawrence

MEDICAL professionals are calling on newly-elected Minister of Public Health, Minister Volda Lawrence to activate the Allied Health Council since it appears requests and complaints to the body are not being addressed.
Although many requested anonymity, radiographer/ radiation therapist Arun Bhargavan was willing to go on record with his complaint.

The radiographer said he had written the former Health Minister, Dr. George Norton and the Council pertaining to issues affecting his work in Guyana, but was never acknowledged.

“As a foreigner, I am the only qualified person who is licensed to give radiation treatment and procedures in Guyana. Moreover when I am leaving Guyana; and seek employment in another foreign country, their Council will ask for my registration certificate and good standing certificate.

“Therefore, I am inquiring who approves my license to work in Guyana and which Council I am registered under and what do I do to receive my certificate of employment and work in Guyana,” he questioned.

The therapist said he is working as a radiographer/ radiation therapist at the Cancer Institute of Guyana for the past three years.

“I understand that there is presently no Allied Health Professions Council active in Guyana.”

However, September last Minister of State Joseph Harmon had announced that Cabinet had approved the operations of the Allied Health Council.

The Council’s members were appointed to serve for two years from March 1, 2016 to February 28, 2018.

The Council caters for medical associations such as the Medical Technologist Association, the Guyana Physiotherapist Association, the Guyana Association of Rehabilitation Professionals, Nutritionists and Dieticians Association, and the Guyana Radiographers Association.

The radiation therapist noted that the Guyana Radiographers Association appears to be defunct.

Since 2010, the year of the Council’s initial establishment, it goes through a process of reconsideration at the level of Cabinet at two-year intervals.

In 2014, the Allied Health Professions Act was amended to include health professionals who are under the purview of environmental health, counselling and testing bodies.

The Official Gazette dated March 24, 2012, indicates that the Act will govern the operations of environmental health officers, public health inspectors, sanitary inspectors, port health officers and environmental health assistants.

The Council is a regulatory body formed to enhance and monitor the functioning of environmental health, a sub-specialty of the field of public health which deals with sanitation, hygiene and water among other factors in environmental health.