DESIGNATION OF DOCTOR'S LETTERHEADS

A SPECIAL REQUEST FROM THE MEDICAL BOARD OF TRINIDAD & TOBAGO [MBTT]-     URGENT REPLIES REQUIRED

A request has been sent to  the CCFP Executive Director in  the Southern Caribbean and also a Foundation Member of GPATT - the General Practitioners Association of Trinidad & Tobago from  the Medical Board of Trinidad & Tobago through their Secretary, Dr. Victor Coombs ( whom incidentally is a foundation member  of the Trinidad & Tobago Chapter of CCFP)

The request reads:

" At our Regular Monthly Meeting on 23rd June 2010, Council agreed to request your assistance in soliciting the views/opinions of members of the General Practitioners Association of Trinidad & Tobago on the proper designation to be used on official letterheads of both General Practitioners and Specialists.

Council is appreciative  of obtaining GPATT's view(s) and comment(s)  at the earliest  convenience.

Thanking you in advance for your kind cooperation  with this matter and Council now await your official response"

From further communication with the Secretary of MBTT,  I have gleaned the following information:

1) The MBTT is extremely concerned  about  representation by doctors  about themselves  that can be deemed invalid- and this being done on letterheads  and by way of office/ clinic signage. Apparently, a young doctor  who was successful in the Postgraduate Diploma  in Family Medicine  was designating himself as a "Specialist in Family Medicine"  and this has prompted  the MBTT  to act  in this expeditious fashion.

2) The MBTT is anxious to canvas the views of  GPATT (and  by extension of all GPs /CCFP members)  with respect to

(a) the definition of a General Practitioner / Family Medical Practitioner;   whether  there is any distinction between the two designations  or whether  these terms are interchangeable

(b) The definition of a "Specialist in Family Medicine"

(c) what are our feelings about  how  other Medical Specialists  should be defined  and how represented

3) The MBTT  wishes also  to canvas our views  relative to advertisement  by way  of information through the media or by way of signage attached to the places where we work- and this should apply equally to GPs as to Specialists in other medical disciplines- eg size of signs or plates; infomation displayed and how.

I would also like to add that the MBTT  and related Medical Boards in the region should extend this oversight to include disciplines under the heading of "Alternative Medicine/alternative heath", especially when such persons purport themselves to have a doctoral degree  and can then  lead  to  their being misrepresented as "Medical Doctors" to  an uninformed populace.

Please  send  your comments to the CCFP through this website or by emailing ccfp@cwjamaica.com cc. svrccfp@yahoo.com

with the heading "LETTERHEAD DESIGNATION"