THE National Qualifications Authority (NQA) recently informed alleged bogus doctor Martin Blair that it could not validate his academic qualifications.

NQA director Frans Gertze yesterday confirmed the latest setback for Blair.

According to Gertze, Blair applied to the NQA "so that we could equate it [his qualification] to our qualifications".

"He's got a doctor of medicine from the American International School of Medicine in Guyana. That American school is registered by our counterpart in Guyana, but the programme is not accredited in Guyana," Gertze told The Namibian yesterday.

As a result of this non-accreditation, "we could not validate the qualification", he said.

Blair last year made headlines when it emerged that the Health Professions Council did not want to register him as a medical doctor.

This came after Blair had been practising as a medical officer at the Katutura State Hospital.

Also, Blair had a brief stint at the medical faculty of the University of Namibia (Unam) as a lecturer.

Professor Chris Jacobson, head of the department of physiology in the faculty, last year confirmed that Blair was a lecturer in his department "for a couple of months".

Jacobson admitted that he did not verify Blair's alleged qualifications - that he has lecturing experience and qualified as a medical doctor from the American International Medical School of Guyana in North America. "I don't have the facilities to turn around and verify all those details. I saw his CV," Jacobson said.

Upon enquiry, Edwin Tjiramba, Unam's spokesperson, then said the minimum requirement for a physiology lecturer is a master's degree in human physiology.

"Preference is also given to those candidates with an MBChB degree with training in physiology."

Tjiramba emphasised that "in our new school of medicine programme, Unam also gives preference to those candidates holding doctoral degrees and preferably at professor level in order to ensure firm grounding of the academic programmes in their in- fancy".

Earlier last year, The Namibian revealed that Blair, who claims to be a medical specialist, was not registered with Namibia's Health Professional Council.

Cornelius Weyulu, spokesperson of the council, said Blair's application was turned down "because he didn't meet the minimum requirements".

Weyulu said it was decided to refuse Blair's application for registration as the papers he presented indicate he had not studied for a minimum period of five years.

Furthermore, Weyulu said, the subjects which he claims to have studied are also not in compliance with the council's minimum requirements. "He has papers, but what he presented to us is not sufficient for us. He's not registrable in Namibia."

The Ministry of Health and Social Services also never authorised Blair to practice as a doctor.

In June last year, Dr Jack Vries, senior official in the health ministry, said it emerged in December 2010 that Blair had never completed the compulsory authorisation forms to work as a doctor for the State.

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.

However, they may then only practice in the public service and for a renewable period of two years.

Like at Unam, Blair seems to have circumvented the ministry's scrutiny process by not completing the authorisation forms and so slipped through the system.

Vries then expressed relief that "nothing untoward" had happened while Blair was employed in the department of internal medicine at Katutura State Hospital as a medical officer.

Blair is currently suing The Namibian as well as the ministry, including senior officials like Vries, for alleged defamation.

Various attempts to get hold of him yesterday were unsuccessful.