The UPNG School of Law, which serves as the only school of law in the country graduated its first PHD student in the 69th graduation yesterday.
57-year-old Dr Alfred Minei from Manus Province received a PHD in Law, making him the first person to study a Doctor of Philosophy at the UPNG Law School.
With a Masters in Law and Research, Medicine and Social Science under his belt, Dr Minei continued to strive for excellence with a vision to obtain a PHD one day and he achieved this from within the country, being the first PHD student from the school of law.
According to Dr Minei, the doctor of philosophy is a collection of masters of Law, medicine and social science.
“The area where I went in is a new area where I put the three areas together to make it into just one area,” he said.
Dr Minei said his journey to get a PHD in an institution in PNG was not easy due to the level of expertise needed in this field of study, including the financial challenges to hire supervisors overseas.
“It has taken me a lot of time, and during the cause of my study I had one of my supervisor in law. late Professor John Luluaki passed on, but that did not stop me to pursue my career because I had other supervisors who helped me along the way to get to where I am today.
“Additionally, it is not easy to do PHD in UPNG or any other established university in PNG, a lot of work must come from the students themselves. You will spend a lot of money in research, in fieldd work and in fact you have to pay people to provide advice,” he said.
For him, he was sponsored by the university throughout his study.
Prior to his achievement, Dr Menei supported the university as a lecture at the Law School and was involved in writing thesis relating to law, medicine and social science. He has also written few books pertaining to his area of study.
Dr Minei’s story goes down to the history of Papua New Guinea as being the first Papua New Guinean to graduate with a PHD at the UPNG School of Law. His story is different from other PHD holders who graduated with PHD from institutions outside of PNG.
Dr Minei’s thesis is on informed consent to medical procedure, a subject that is very critical but little know in PNG. The title of the thesis is; A study of the legal aspects of informed consent in Clinical Practice Settings and in Customary Practices of Communities in the National Capital District and Central Province.
The thesis examines and tabulates laws pertaining to informed consent and reviews available from legal records of cases from the Supreme Court and National Court Registries in PNG.
The research evaluates the knowledge and examines the barriers to legal informed consent practices among physicians, nurses and allied health workers at hospitals, district hospitals, private medical centers, health centers and clinics in Central and NCD.
The thesis has met all the prescribed processes and requirements of the by-laws governing the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.