By Sara Camara
Monrovia, Liberia – In a shocking turn of events, the head of Liberia’s doctors’ association, Peter Matthew George, has been banned from practicing medicine by the Liberia Medical and Dental Council (LMDC). The regulatory body found that Dr. George did not have evidence of his initial medical degree from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, as he had been claiming.
Dr. George has disputed the LMDC’s findings, stating that there is a “bias” against him due to his advocacy in a row between doctors and the government. However, the LMDC’s investigation revealed that the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom does not currently offer a medical degree, and there is no evidence that Dr. George ever studied or graduated from the institution.
The University of Hertfordshire confirmed to the BBC that there is no record of Dr. George ever attending or graduating from the university. They stated that any claim to the contrary is false and constitutes a misrepresentation of their institution. The university is cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities in Liberia and will continue to support any investigations as required.
Dr. George’s LinkedIn page, where he claimed to have studied for a “professional doctorate in medicine MD, general medicine” at Hertfordshire between 2010 and 2014, has since been taken down. However, in an email to the BBC, Dr. George stated that his primary medical degree was not from the British university and that he never told anyone otherwise. He instead claims that his initial medical degree is from the University of Central Nicaragua.
Despite this claim, Dr. George has been practicing medicine in Liberia since 2014, and no one had raised an issue with his work until now. In fact, he had been promoted and praised for improving the medical facilities at the Chief Jallah Lone Government Hospital in Gbarpolu county. Dr. George argues that problems started to arise once he became the president of the Liberia Medical and Dental Association (LMDA) in December last year and began advocating for the rights and welfare of doctors and dentists in the country.
The LMDA has since nullified Dr. George’s presidency and stated that he is no longer a member of the association. The LMDC’s investigation into Dr. George’s credentials is part of a larger issue of fake foreign credentials across West Africa. The news of Dr. George’s ban has only just emerged as he was given 15 working days to respond, and the medical council did not receive a response.
This incident highlights the importance of verifying the credentials of medical professionals to ensure that they are qualified to provide medical care to patients. The Liberian government and the LMDC must take further steps to prevent such incidents from happening in the future and ensure that all medical professionals practicing in the country have legitimate credentials.
