‘DOCTOR’ Martin Blair, who has been at the centre of a storm in the medical fraternity, on Tuesday said he is ‘second to none when it comes to medicine in this country’.
According to him, ‘I don’t talk medicine; I walk medicine.’ Blair broke his silence after he made headlines over the past months following questions about his qualifications.Although he was consistently approached for comment in the past, he chose to remain silent.Due to the alleged defamatory nature of the news reports, Blair decided to speak out.After enrolling at the American International School of Medicine in Guyana in 2001, Blair said he graduated in 2003 with a Master’s Degree in Medical Science. That is over a period of three years.’Then in 2005, I did not only graduate, but graduated with honours as a medical doctor (MD) where I was awarded with magna cum laude for the year 2003-2004.’Earlier, it emerged Blair was neither registered with the Health Professions Council nor authorised by the Minister of Health and Social Services to practice.After his appointment to the Katutura State Hospital late last year, it came to light in December that Blair had never completed the compulsory authorisation forms.The Minister of Health and Social Services may, in terms of the Medical and Dental Act, authorise medical doctors to practise without them being registered with the health regulatory body.Blair on Tuesday denied that he had resigned amid allegations of incompetence.He resigned because of ‘unprofessionalism on the part of the heads of the internal medicine department at the Katutura State Hospital’ as well as an alleged assault by his former colleagues.Dr Jack Vries, senior official in the health Ministry, earlier expressed relief that ‘nothing untoward’ happened while Blair was employed in the department of internal medicine at the Katutura State Hospital as a medical officer (MO).Vries said Blair was summoned in December last year and questioned about why he had not completed the authorisation forms and informed that the Health Professions Council refused to register him.Blair on Tuesday said he was not summoned in December, but in February this year. He was assaulted during this interrogation, he claimed.According to Dr Vries, Blair resigned shortly afterwards.Blair said he ‘would have appreciated it if Dr Jack Vries would have continued to say that at the Katutura State Hospital, patients were leaving their homes at 05h00 just to line up… to be treated by Dr Martin C. Blair MD, MMSc.’He said he insisted on being called Dr Blair and not just Blair, ‘because (1) I have worked very hard for it, and (2) society has granted me the privilege to be called and use the abbreviation ‘Dr’ before my name. It is very disrespectful, disgraceful and distasteful to my palate.’Asked about his recent involvement at the Medical School of the University of Namibia (Unam), Blair refused to comment, saying he does ‘not want to lecture anymore’.
