Bhagat case: will it be a lesson in semantics?

The judge who will preside over the case of Botswana's most famed cardiologist, Professor Kiran Bhagat, may find that semantics classes are not only for English learners.

In the case a whopping 13 doctors, together with the Botswana Health Professions Council (BHPC) will defend their decision not to recognise Professor Bhagat as a cardiologist and to further "malign him" in the media. 

It appears that the crunch of the matter lies in the legal and medical jargon comprising four simple English questions: What is a specialist physician? Is it the same thing as a general physician? And what is a cardiologist? The bid to unravel these questions promises to become a lesson in semantics, as it has become clear that Bhagat and the BHPC differ on the meaning. While on the one hand Bhagat maintains that he is a Specialist Physician, whose area of specialty is Cardiology, the BHPC says he is neither, rather, this organisation maintains, he is a general physician.  It is on the use of General Physician and Specialist Physician that these parties differ.  In the normal training of medicine, a student, through five years of training becomes what is called a General Practitioner (GP). To specialise, the GP will usually need another three years of training and to go beyond the first specialisation, a further three years.

Editor's Comment
Congratulations Anicia Gaothuse!

The contest had 10 beautiful young girls as finalists and unfortunately only one could wear the crown.The judges picked Anicia Gaothuse. To all those who feel their contestant should have won ahead of Anicia for whatever reason, hardly; the judges found Anicia to be the best among the best, so desist from disrespecting our newly crowned queen on social media or anywhere else, for that matter! Each of the 10 beautiful young women had supporters...

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