NASSAU, BAHAMAS – National Accreditation and Equivalency Council of the Bahamas officials confirmed yesterday that the Bahamas Medical Learning Center, an institution providing health education services in the country, is not registered or recognized by the body.
Their confirmation comes after Eyewitness News reported that the Health Professions Council, which regulates certain health professionals, has rejected the institution’s request to have its emergency services technician program approved.
The revelation has shocked some students who registered for the program with hopes of eventually getting licensed.
NAECOB’s website says “institutions that are not listed but are offering programs in The Bahamas are not registered or recognized by NAECOB.”
Failure to obtain NAECOB recognition can cause students to be denied key credentials.
Dr Elwood Rolle, founder and director of the BMLC, defended the credibility of his institution yesterday, claiming it had been approved by the HPC before and was going through the process of getting approved again.
“We’ve been conducting allied healthcare programmes since 2006,” he said.
“We’ve had a long history with the Health Professions Council.
“They’ve been licensing our graduates who complete their certification training. We’re aligned with the National Registry of EMTs so when our students complete the training they are able to go to Health Professions Council and become licensed.
“That status lapsed at the very end of 2020.”
Rolle claimed that “extenuating circumstances” from the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the BMLC from securing HPC approval to date.
“There were multiple delays in us finalizing that process,” he said.
“We’re actually on the very last leg of completing that process and we’ve also submitted the course to NAECOB for approval and again we were never told by the HPC to cease and desist training.”
“Why? Because our programmes must be evaluated. They have to evaluate a programme, evaluate the instruction. The same thing with NAECOB. We have to keep the programmes running so at any time an inspector could pop in to the classroom and sit in the class and evaluate the instruction. This is why we continued the class, so we never lied when we told students that we’re running a certification course.”
NAECOB and HPC officials did not make themselves available yesterday to discuss the registration process or the expectations the public should have of institutions that are awaiting registration.
NAECOB officials who spoke to Eyewitness News without expecting attribution, however, said there are many repercussions for students who enroll in programs hosted by unregistered institutions.
One official said someone who attended the BMLC was denied a job in the public service because the institution did not have NAECOB’s seal of approval.
Another official said: “If the institution is registered, then that would state that everything is in order. But if they are not on the website that means nothing is in order.”
A letter obtained by Eyewitness News shows that the HPC rejected the BMLC’s application for approval of their EMT programme as recently as May 27, 2022.
The letter, which was signed by HPC Registrar Bernadette Ellis, says: “Please be advised that your programme was reviewed at the Health Professions Council held May 25, 2022. I regret to inform you that the programme has not met the council’s approval due to a number of deficiencies…”
The deficiencies, the letter said, included key documents like verification of a doctor’s qualifications as an emergency physician and all the documents asked for in the registration form.
Rolle expressed frustration yesterday with how long it has taken the council to settle his matter.
“We submitted everything that the council had asked for,” he said.
“I waited until a day after the 13th which is the 14th to find out the status. We were then told that because one of the officials was absent they have to move it to the 26th. I said no problem, I’ll call back on the 26th.
“I called back on the 26th only to find out that they telling me oh, by the way, we need XYZ in addition to what you submitted. I said well come on you had April, you had April to let us know. Now you’re going to tell us on the 26th that you need a few additional (documents)? So all these are additional setbacks for us.
“This wouldn’t have even been a discussion if things were dealt with in a particular manner.”
Several former BMLC students have taken civil action against the school. In response to a summons, Rolle and two of the students attended a hearing at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The trial has been adjourned to July 14th.
