Philip Henry and Patrick Menzies tell PLUS TV their concerns about Medical Schools in Belize
Last week this station ran a series of stories detailing the phenomenon of medical schools in Belize. On Wednesday we featured local activist Philip “Fawda” Henry who has directed his ire at the American Global University School of Medicine (AGUSM) in Ladyville for not being forthright about their credentials and past activities. Yesterday along with University of Belize professor Patrick Menzies, they hosted a press conference in Belize City to further outline their allegations against the school. The conference was well-attended by Henry’s supporters of his Do the Right Thing Pedestrian Crossing Program. The duo, appeared this morning in Rise and Shine where Henry says that he started following up on AGUSM after being contacted by some friends in the state of Ohio.
Philip “Fawda” Henry – Activist:
These people contacted me and said that they came to this country, saw this website saying American Global in Belize.� They told me that first, when it was in some part of the country in Belmopan, they applied.� They saw these things on-line.� Now by they coming to this country here, trying to locate this area, and seeing all these things, they pay them money, and they don’t even find this American Global.� So it started to trigger me that, if American Global exists in Belize� and [is] taking people’s money, why are they hiding?� So I took up the initiative to start to do my investigation as “Do the right thing”. I went about finding out that they were in Belmopan from 2006, removed themselves� from there to San Pedro, like an express train, then left San Pedro to Ladyville.
Henry made allegations that the Vice President of AGUSM has been convicted of crimes in the states.
Philip “Fawda” Henry – Activist:
Peggy Allen is one of them.� She was born in Ohio. She’s an American citizen, and has been given so much opportunity to destroy my Belize, our nation, every one of you in here.� It is so disgusting that I had to call in to the morning show, and somebody has paid a female to perform for maybe 10 or 20 dollars to say stupidness against her country. She has failed us miserably. But we have to know about this.� There are multiple charges against this woman, Peggy Allen, and the cases are still pending in the United States of America.� You have the world financial network who have also a civil lawsuit against us.� You have also the State of Ohio who have a lawsuit against Peggy Allen.
Dr Menzies says he was intrigued by Allen’s telephone interview with PLUS News in which she claimed that the school has graduated 200 medical doctors.
Patrick Menzies – UB Lecturer:
AGU are being candid. According to Peggy Allen, they graduated two hundred MDs, two hundred medical doctors. Okay. Where are they operating? I did a research on the web and guess what I found? I looked at their grads. I Googled them; I couldn't find any of them. Only one of them I found is a sister something-I forget her name now-that graduated and is now in the U.S. of all the folks they claim to have graduated, I can't find them. Then I went to another school, CAHSU; that's the Belize Medical School, they were in the media. And every single one of their grads that I Googled, I found them operating in the U.S. as medical doctors. So we do have an institution here that actually works; that's actually operating and I think it works. So we need to tell the Government hey let's do this thing; let's do it right and let us support those that are legitimate. But let us get rid of those that are not.
Dr Menzies, who took his concerns to the Ministry of Education this week, says more can be done.
Patrick Menzies -� UB Lecturer:
The reality is that pulling stuff out of the Ministry has been a little bit tough.� So we’re challenging the Ministry, let’s do it.� I spoke to a member, an individual, who actually is a part of that Board, and said “You know what?� This thing is not really operating”� I’m not going to give the persons name. A Senior Government Official said this thing is not working.� So basically, whoever is the one authorizing one charter for two medical universities, something smells funky.� Something isn’t right.
Government will strengthen monitoring of medical schools
Plus news has been doing a series of stories on Medical Schools who have been granted charters to operate in Belize. One which has taken up the interest of the Belizean public is American Global University School of Medicine. As we told you earlier Phillip “Fawda” Henry along with Patrick Menzies� of BelizeCAN has taken a strong stance against the school and is asking the Ministry of Education to respond to the matter. Well, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) sent out a press release expressing it’s� concern of putting into context recent statements made to media by certain individuals regarding the situation of American Global University School of Medicine. The matter was discussed on Rise and Shine this morning where Minister of Education the Hon. Patrick Faber called in to explain some of the points listed in that release.
Hon Patrick Faber – Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports:
American Global University's School of Medicine was given a charter to operate a medical school in Belize and this charter was issued in November of 2005. That is important in itself, because while I don't want to get into a blame game and go back to what the previous administration did, I understand that the charter was issued in an error, where these six or seven other charters were issued for medical schools, most of which never materialized at all and were completely fraudulent. When I became Minister, I found a situation where there were a lot of scandals and a lot of complaints even to the Ministry. So we investigated all of them, including what was being said at the time - that this same American Global University has moved its campus. You will remember it was in Belmopan and then it moved to San Pedro and they were numerous complaints.�
Faber added that the charter was granted under the previous administration and that the Charter does not prohibit the school from changing its location within Belize nor does it require them to notify of changes in location.
Hon Patrick Faber – Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports:
While I appreciate any Belizean who is trying to champion the cause of Belize and trying to make sure, as I would do myself, trying to make sure that the name of Belize is not dragged through the mud. I also want them to be aware, if they aren't already aware, that this school in fact has its own internal controversy and there are players locally and abroad who of course have been in a conflict back and forth - the two principals of American Global, the two people who the medical council engaged back then in 200; there have been lawsuits, there have been complaints made. There have been one party getting a lawyer and asking us to hand over the charter to this one and to that one. There is more than whatever controversial issues of nonexistent buildings or students, there is more going on in this entire story than that.
Faber expressed this morning that in late February, 2013, the President-CEO of the school wrote to inform of the proposed relocation to a site on the Phillip S. W. Goldson International Airport Road, Ladyville, Belize. The Minister says that he was a guest speaker at one of AGUSM graduation.
Hon Patrick Faber – Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports:
I will tell you that I have attended a graduation of American Global University. I have met with students who have shared their experiences with me and I have heard there students about the rotations that they have done in various parts of the world. I have heard their stories as they recount them about their time in Belize, so I don't know what is the situation today, but I can tell you, whether or not something is going wrong now that in the past there have been students and I have met those students and I attended one of their graduations in Ohio and was their speaker. So it's not fictitious certainly back then when I attended, which was probably in 2010. However it certainly was not a fictitious school then. Now under the charter that they signed and this is what the release says, back in 2005, they needed not report to the Ministry when they were moving the school.�
He also add that if there’s any deficiencies in operation or violations of their charter that is found. That matter will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of their charter which makes provisions for remedying breaches within a certain time frame or else face possible termination of their charter.
Hon Patrick Faber – Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports:
It is explained that students come from all over the world and all over the US there are students who I met from the US in particular and they were saying that to travel to a location in the US would have been easier for us than for all of those students and their families to come to Belize for the graduation ceremony. I attended that gradation in a hotel ball room and it was there that I spoke to the students who graduated. I believe there were probably about fifteen students on that occasion that graduated and they told me their stories about being in Belmopan and being in San Pedro. I am not vouching for them, I am simply saying that I have had that experience. Either that or it was a very good act that these students could tell me about their friends in Belize and about people they know in Belize. I am telling you, they had at least a graduation where I was their guest speaker. If something has gone terribly wrong since that time, that's another issue and I am saying that we are not here to protect and shelter anyone. I am certainly not here to do that. If indeed they are in a violation of anything that is under their charter then we will deal with that to the full extent of the law.
The Minister also stated that the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and the Medical Council of Belize through the Belize Medical Schools Registration Committee began a process to institute a more rigorous procedure for granting charters to prospective medical schools and to increase and strengthen the monitoring of such institutions to ensure that they remain in compliance with their charters.
PlusTV
MEDICAL SCHOOL IN BELIZE A HOAX?
Activists say yes, but Ministry of Education says no
Activist and president of the "Do the Right Thing" Pedestrian Crossing Program, Philip "Fawda" Henry, has been pressuring the Government of Belize to investigate the legitimacy of American Global University School of Medicine (AGUSM) in Belize.
Henry claims that the medical school is a fraudulent institution that is not contributing in any way to the nation of Belize.
AGUSM vice-president, Peggy Allen, has spoken to the media in Belize and objected to all allegations Henry has made against the school.
Some of the allegations were that there aren't any students enrolled at the institution because no one has ever seen anyone on the school grounds and the school has relocated several times because it's constantly under investigation for the validity of its programs.
To those allegations, Allen said that students are currently not attending on-campus classes because they are enrolled in clinical rotations in contracted hospitals throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. For that reason, the students have no need to check in on-campus.
Allen said that the school has changed locations, but only to expand the campus. Both the current Ladyville campus and the former San Pedro campus are undergoing renovations at this time, she added. No one will be on-campus during renovations, other than the construction workers, she further explained.
A concern was also raised as to why the AGUSM website stated that the school is enrolling for their May 2013 class, despite the fact that no students are at the school.
Allen said that they are constantly enrolling students into their program but that doesn't mean that the students will be on the campus after enrollment. She said that the medical program has two separate programs and the first part of the program is housed on their Belize campus, but every semester they have students who transfer into the programs.
Henry staged a one-man protest in front of the AGUSM campus in Ladyville last week. There, he told the media that no one has ever been seen on the school grounds, and when he arrived at the school that day, the only two persons who were on the school grounds left when he arrived.
On Tuesday, April 23, Henry was joined by the president of BelizeCan, Patrick Menzies, and a group of Ladyville residents at a press conference, where they voiced their concerns about the legitimacy of AGUSM.
Henry said he believes that the Government has not taken the situation or the people of Belize seriously.
"The American Global University that is in Belize has been doing some shady stuff," he said. "People have been applying for medical schools in the Caribbean, like Belize. They come to this country in order to see that what they see on the Internet is true, or it's all hocus-pocus. All these things they are paying their money for are not in existence," said Henry.
Henry said that no students have been seen at the school, and that makes him, and members of the Ladyville community, believe that there aren't any students enrolled at the medical school.
Menzies said that medical schools can be beneficial for Belize if they are properly instituted, but he does not believe that AGUSM is one of those schools. He said the school claims to have graduated 200 medical doctors, but he did not find any of those students in an online research he carried out.
He added that the Government needs to get involved in the situation and investigate the school.
"People are being exploited, taken advantage of, being ripped off," he said. "We need to stop the madness."
Menzies said that in the same way the Ministry of Education is pressing to legitimize the teachers of Belize, the Ministry should make sure that they legitimize the other institutions in the country.
There wasn't much coming from the Government in response to the allegations about AGUSM until Tuesday, April 23, when a press release was issued by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.
AGUSM was originally opened in Belmopan, but has since relocated to San Pedro, and now to Ladyville, said the release, which added that AGUSM was given a charter to operate a medical school in November 2005 under the previous administration, and the charter does not require the administration to notify the Government of changes in location.
The Ministry included in its release that an inspection of the new location had been planned, but wasn't done because the move occurred at the end of the fiscal year and made it (the inspection) difficult to conduct. The visit is to happen shortly, the Ministry said.
The release stated that "Any deficiencies in operation or violations of their charter that is found will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of their charter which makes provisions for remedying breaches within a certain time frame or else face possible termination of their charter."
The president of AGUSM, Dr. Malik Soudah, has called a press conference to be held on Friday, April 26, to discuss the situation.
Amandala