Dear Editor
There isn’t a greater contrast. One a novice. The other a specialist. One with no postgraduate training. The other with postgraduate training to the level of the Phd. One with no experience in the speciality in question. One the second most senior person in said speciality. An here is it? The most senior person resigns and the second most senior person overlooked. And it gets worse. The novice, the one with no postgraduate training and no speciality experience is appointed to numero uno above the Phd number 2.
How is this possible? Let’s examine it closer. The novice is of the right racial background, the Phd graduate is not. Apparently, the job specification was not based on academics or qualifications for the job. Anyway, don’t let’s get ahead of ourselves. Let’s examine the CV’s. But before I do so, let me place some names to the characters. Dr. Narine Singh and Dr. Karen Boyle.
Dr. Singh graduated from a third rated medical school in Cuba where the entry requirement is the lowest in the world. 5 CXC’s and your place is secured. further, nobody fails. The dumbest of the dumbs are given certificates to kill. On returning to Guyana, Dr. Singh has done no postgraduate studdies. He recognised his limitation and wouldn’t even try deluding himself by attempting it. At West Demerara Hospital, he was a junior doctor working in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. By no stretch of your imagination are we talking about a professional spring chicken. We are referring to a man who is heading to his sixties and still a junior doctor.
Dr. Boyle was an alumnus of Bishops’ High School. She won the prestigious Guyana Scholarship. In layman’s terms, she was one of the top performing students at the GCE A-levels. With scholarship in hand she headed to Russia to study medicine. Not limiting herself professionally, Dr. Boyle completed a Masters degree in Public Health from the Ivy League, Columbia University. Subsequent to that she completed her Phd in Public Health at the Caribbean Premiere University of the West Indies. Recognising her qualifications, Dr. Boyle was made Deputy Chief Medical Officer in 2016. It is noteworthy that she is more qualified than that of her then senior. Internationally, Dr Boyle is recognised Internationally for her academic work where she served in senior technical and management positions on multiple international donor funded projects.
My question to you is how could the PPP overlook Dr. Boyle for the position of CMO and appoint someone with no postgraduate training? If you are confused then welcome to Guyana where a fraudulent Government is allowed to run a country and practise blatant racism. But it is deeper than that. Dr. Boyle with her honesty has been unwittingly highlighting the incompetence of PPP in managing the COVID-19 crisis. She would never fudge the numbers. All the deaths would be recorded. All the cases would be recorded. PPP incompetence would be on full display. PPP don’t want that. They are not used to that. Enter the incompetent Dr.Singh. The numbers will be fudged and the fraudulent PPP Government will speak of improvement. Many may believe them but not those who have read this letter. I am rarely wrong.
Regards
Dr.Mark Devonish MBBS MSc Med. Ed FRCP(Edin) FRCP(Lond)
Consultant Acute Medicine
Nottingham University Hospital
UK
