The Medical Council’s decision to deregister Dr. José Humphreys as a medical practitioner in Antigua and Barbuda is being challenged in the High Court.
His lawyer, Dr. David Dorsett, confirmed that he recently filed the application to appeal the Council’s decision within the legal three-month timeframe stipulated under the Medical Practitioners Act.
The application is similar to the one he filed several years ago when the Council said it could not grant his request for the renewal of his license to practice unless he provided them with documentation to show he met the requirements.
In that instance, the court ruled that the Council had not refused to re-register him because it was awaiting documents to support his application and he had not provided those documents. Hence, his application remained pending due to his inaction in that regard.
This time, the case is not just about the non-renewal of his license, but about his name being deleted from the list of licensed medical practitioners.
Dr. Humphreys’ name was removed from the Medical Register on May 2nd 2019 after the Antigua and Barbuda Medical Council ruled that he did not meet all the requirements outlined by the Council.
The deregistered doctor was told of the decision via a letter issued by the Council’s registrar, Cicely Dorsett. The missive was apparently in response to documents Dr. Humphreys submitted this year – as ordered by the court – in his continued effort to get his medical licence renewed, a process he started since September 2014.
In explaining the rationale for its decision, the Council alleged that the institution from which Dr. Humphreys obtained his medical degree in 2011 – the American International School of Medicine (AISM) in Guyana – was not accredited at the time he completed his studies. The Council said that, to date, it is still not accredited by the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions (CAAM-HP).
Subsequently, the contents of a letter and documents sent to Dr. Humphreys and health officials in Antigua were leaked. Those documents and the letter showed that AISM was accredited by the authorities in Guyana at the time he studied there.
On the point of the AISM not being accredited by the CAAM-HP, Dr. Humphreys’ supporters spoke out publicly, saying there is no mandatory requirement for the institution to be accredited by the CAAM-HP.
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