Wednesday February 27, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 11
Bogus nursing school back in operation - Students continue to be fooled Despite being closed down several times by the Ministry of Health, the unaccredited ‘Inter-American Nursing School’ is once again in operation in the city. This time it goes by name, the Guyana Health Care Education Institute, and oblivious students continue to pay large sums of money to be lectured in various aspects of health care. Back in 2009, the female owner of the school, Nandranie Kissoon, was arrested following complaints made by scores of students to the Brickdam Police Station. The woman was ordered to refund students in excess of $250,000. The then Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, in believing that the school which was located in Cummings Street may be engaged in fraudulent activities, made clear that it had not been accredited by his Ministry. Ramsammy had said that the school was boosting its existence by erroneously informing its students and potential students that once they graduate, their certificates will be recognised by the Guyana Nursing Council. This would have allowed the students entry into the three local nursing schools, namely the Georgetown School of
Nursing, the New Amsterdam Nursing School, and the Charles Rosa Nursing School at Linden. Ramsammy had, however, explained that these local nursing schools operated with very specific and very rigid requirements for admission, and that the qualifications are not the same as that of the “InterAmerican institution”. Also, prior to 2009, Kissoon, who has many aliases including Nalini Budhram, Donna Gomes, Nanda Kissoon, Nandranie Drepaul, Bibi, and Ms. Singh, paraded under the alias of Dr. Nevita Basdeo, the owner of a laboratory called Instant Lab; another fake establishment. And soon after being appointed Health Minister, Ramsammy and the Health Ministry began making enquiries into the operations of the laboratory. This prompted the woman to flee the country. But then she surfaced a few years later; this time posing as a biomedical engineer, and following another series of inquiries, the woman disappeared again. This is now 2013, and this fraudster is back. Her school is now located in the third floor of a building on Robb Street (next to Scotiabank).
The Robb Street building in which the bogus nursing school is being housed
Just yesterday, a number of students complained to Kaieteur News that they left the institution soon after realizing that the woman’s lectures were no good. “The woman did hire some lecturers, but they didn’t stay too long. Some of these teachers were very good, and I don’t think they knew that this woman
(Kissoon) was a fraud. So it looks like when they get a clue, they left,” one student said. The student added that several persons who would have enrolled in 2011, and would’ve completed their courses last year, are yet to receive any form of certification. “My thing is that these
partnership to provide to the Guyanese public the excellent service that Popeyes is noted for.” The Giftland Mall will be a state-of-the-art, 21st century facility, and “a gathering place for many memorable events”. It is situated on over 500,000 sq. ft. of developed property of which 300,000 is enclosed and air-
conditioned. It will feature over 140 different vendors, customer parking, bus terminals and taxi stands. It will also feature separate Video arcades for pre-teens and teenagers, together with a 12-Lane Bowling Alley, 8 State-of-theArt 3D Cinemas and over 23 eating places.
Popeyes on board at Giftland Mall Chairman of Popeyes Ram Lalbadhur Singh receives the agreement from Monica Beepat (Director of Giftland) and Jade Beepat (H.R. Director)
MCG Investments (Giftland Office Max) Inc, announced yesterday that it has signed a licencing Agreement with Guyana Restaurant Inc. (Popeyes), for the leasing of space at its Giftland Mall, Pattensen, East Coast Demerara. The facilities will be stateof-the-art in technology and design and have been tested
to ISO and ROCH certification, for the European and USA markets. All equipment will be rigorously tested and sanitized, daily, in accordance with both companies’ strict health and safety policies. CEO of Giftland OfficeMax, Ian Ramdeo stated “The Giftland Mall welcomes Guyana Restaurant Inc. on board and is excited for this
people know that this woman is a fraud, and yet she is given the chance to resurface again, and again. We are losing. Maybe not too many us reading the papers on a daily basis, so w e d o n ’t k n o w, a n d regardless of how it is that we don’t know of this scam, it is still wrong. And those aspiring to be in any
field of work needs to be protected from such lawlessness. Education is no longer cheap, and it is unfair for us to put so much into something that is as bogus as this,” another student added. Collectively, they are calling on the relevant authorities to put a permanent end to the woman’s scams.