Dear Editor,
I believe the citizens of Georgetown ought to be advised as to the reasons why the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown is deliberately lowering entry requirements for its employees, rewarding those without the requisite qualifications with senior appointments and reducing time honoured and necessary standards at the Georgetown Municipality.
Over the last century, the Public Health Department of the City Council was always headed by a Medical Doctor who specialised in Public Health, including highly recognised and well-respected practitioners such as Drs. P.G. Barrow, Oscar Hamilton, Sultan Kassim, Vibert Shury et al.

And there was a very good reason for this, and that is because they were required to be trained, skilled and competent in epidemiology which allowed them to completely understand the nature of and prevent public health crises such as the spread of infectious diseases, in health policy and management which prepared them to look at the “big picture” of public health including implementing policies and programmes that would improve public health, in maternal and child health allowing them to identify the causes and explain the effects of the unique health problems facing children, adolescents and mothers at every stage of pregnancy, in disaster management since disasters pose a significant problem for public health everywhere in the world and in environmental health, making them properly understand the critical need for clean drinking water, allowing them to monitor levels of toxins such as dust and radioactive waste, and to work to keep the public safe from unseen dangers.

Appointing a general practitioner who has only had basic medical training to perform the specialist role of public health medical expert is neither fair to the general practitioner that was appointed nor to the citizenry who expect the health of the entire city, and not just one person, to be properly maintained. The health and safety of our capital city are of vital importance.

Regards
Anu Bihari