Head of doctors’ group banned from practising medicine

The head of Liberia's doctors' association has been banned from practising medicine after a regulatory body said it did not have evidence of his initial medical degree, reports BBC News. As part of a qualifications audit, the Liberia Medical and Dental Council (LMDC) asked Peter Matthew George to provide his professional certificates. In April, the LMDC told George that it had revoked his licence as he had not given satisfactory proof he had graduated in medicine from the UK's University of Hertfordshire as, it said, he had been claiming. George has disputed the LMDC's findings. He said there was a ‘bias’ against him because of his advocacy in a row between doctors and the government. In a letter to George explaining its decision, the LMDC said he had not provided an actual certificate of his qualification from the University of Hertfordshire but instead sent an ‘award verification letter’ which said he had ‘obtained an MD’. The LMDC pointed out that ‘MD’ is a qualification acquired in the US and not the UK. Furthermore, the LMDC said ‘of utmost concern is that investigation showed that the only University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom does not currently offer a medical degree’. George said his primary medical degree was not from the British university. ‘I never told anyone so. Those are make-up stories.’ Instead, he said his initial medical degree was from the University of Central Nicaragua. He said that since starting practising medicine in Liberia in 2014, and providing his qualifications to the authorities at the time, no-one had raised an issue with his work. George argued that problems began to arise after he became the president of the LMDA in December last year.

Full BBC News report