And now that Arzu stands before the courts and the council his license and in fact his entire career is at least temporarily on the line.
But what particular consequences could he face?
According to Cob there are a plethora of measures that could be employed.
But what if Arzu gets off? Does he go back to performing breast examinations, ultrasounds and pap smears? We put that question to Chairman Dr. Cob, and here's what he said:
Dr Atanascio Cob, Chairman, Medical Council Of Belize
"In the event that there is an adverse outcome towards the physician there are many things that the council can do, from revoking his license to many other things that there is provision made in the medical council act."
Cherisse Halsall:
"Such as?"
Dr Atanascio Cob
"Such as, I will refer you to them, I don't know them by heart."
Cherisse Halsall:
"If this individual is acquitted, and gets off of all these allegations, how will the medical board treat him, does he return to practice?"
Dr Atanascio Cob
"Yes that is a scenario I cannot answer immediately as each case is particular and I am the chairman and but there are other members on the council and we will need to sit down and discuss if there are any consequences that are going to happen to him or that goes for any individual who has an adverse reaction produced in the court."
"To this particular case I think what we need to make the public know that the council takes seriously, its function, that the council is, welcomes any kind of allegations, maybe this happened in the past we don't know um if it has we want people to be open come to the council and we are going to look out it. The second thing I want to say is that we live in a country of laws in a society governed by law and we will want to ensure that. The law is followed in this case."
So, the bottom line for Arzu tonight is that he is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the case.
But, to finish off with the statement from the Ministry of Health that we presented earlier, it wastes an entire paragraph attacking our news director, Jules Vasquez. In a release that should have been about protecting the victim, the Ministry is trying to protect itself from criticism. It says, quote, "The ministry is aware that during the Sun Up on 7 Morning Show, media practitioner Jules Vasquez of Channel 7 has been complaining about being denied information about the alleged assault. The ministry advises Mr. Vasquez that while his priority may be sensationalism and media ratings, our priority MUST always be the wellbeing of our people, in this case, the alleged victim." End quote. For clarity, Channel 7 never once asked for information about the alleged assault, we asked the ministry what it was doing about the complaint, which, pretty much, was nothing. Jules says he'll respond tomorrow on a special Wednesday edition of The Beef.
