treatment services in Bermuda. It seems to us that Bermuda is extremely lax in what it requires of people who call themselves professionals but are not properly trained for the treatments they undertake. Some of the services being offered today are relatively new to Bermuda and, because they are new, they came into usage without proper regulations. We think that should be corrected.

As nearly as we can tell, the private sector has people in practice who are under-qualified but Government also has problems in terms of people who work in such places as Addiction Services. As we understand it, there are people in private practice who are not sufficiently qualified to be insurable by recognised insurance companies, yet they are allowed to sell their services to the public. Some of these people have some qualifications but are providing services which are not supported by the qualifications they do have.

Bermuda needs to have standards which must be met and standards which are enforced so that an unsuspecting public is protected. Surely these standards should be high enough so that the practitioner is insured. We are not suggesting that the insurance companies should set the standards but qualifications which insurance companies will or will not insure might well be a guideline for who should and should not be allowed to hang out a shingle.

Right now we seem to have a policy of "buyer beware'' or of "consult at your own risk''. But the "buyer'' often has no means with which to beware. People in need will often accept what is available because they think that if the service is available in a well run country then it is approved by officialdom.

Right now that is not the case because there are few official standards. In fact, some of the standards are so lax as to be suspect.

Just think about this for a minute, we do not allow unqualified people to set up a practice to treat our animals. Why do we allow people who are not fully qualified to tamper with our people and, especially, with our people's minds? Some of the people in private practice are non-Bermudian. It would seem to this newspaper that if Bermuda is going to import people to treat locals then it ought to import nothing but the best.

Aside from the danger to the public of unqualified people practising on them, there is also an academic danger. If you are allowed to practise in Bermuda without being properly qualified, why should you bother to become properly qualified? Government should lead in this because if Government sets a low standard then a low private standard becomes acceptable. Bermuda should have the best.