Dear Editor,
For the sake of everybody’s information, including that of Messrs Ramjattan and Kissoon, I do have access to local doctors and I consult with my doctors at the GPHC periodically. I also worked at a hospital in New York for many years before I came back to Guyana and I often check with my friends whenever I have an opportunity to do so.
The fact is other than when I was in the hospital in January 2004, I have never had a holiday or vacation and the further fact is that I have been working every day, including weekends and holidays and I usually work for up to 20 hours per day. Guyanese know this. You can find me in the hospitals, at health centres, in the villages or at my office any day, any time.
The truth is I was not feeling well over the last several months and I did check with my doctors at the GPHC. My doctors have insisted that I cut down the number of hours I work, a recommendation I have not been able to comply with.
Yet over the last weekend (July 4 and 5) I was quite ill, but together with my technical officers we were also following up on the first two suspected cases of H1N1 in Guyana. My doctors and colleagues insisted that I needed to take a break. I decided it was time for me to accept the recommendation of my local doctors and I decided to take a working holiday abroad. I travelled to spend time with my family and at the same time to have some important meetings relating to chronic diseases. I did not seek the services of any doctor or hospital overseas. I left Guyana on Monday and returned on Friday morning.
Members of the press contacted me by telephone because several of them knew I was not well. The assumption was I went for a medical check-up. I explained to some of them who called that I was out taking a rest and at no time did I confirm I was under-going medical attention. I simply said I was well to all those who called. The fact is that I took some rest, did some meetings and never made the time to have a medical check-up.
For those who might be genuinely interested, the fact is I am still not feeling well, but there is work to be done. In continuing to work overtime when I should be resting, I am not responding to the pettiness of Mr Kissoon and Mr Ramjattan. I am doing what I have always done, doing the best I could even when I am not doing well in terms of my health.
For several months now, Mr Khemraj Ramjattan and Mr Freddie Kissoon have been scandalizing my name. Most of the time, I remained quiet, allowing the public to judge. I have sought periodically to provide explanation without getting down to the same kind of mean-spirited, petty, degrading behaviour, with the hope that armed with reliable information, these gentlemen would do the decent thing.
When I don’t respond, I am guilty. When I respond to the allegations, I am being a bully. Once again without being mean-spirited and with all the graciousness I could summon at this time I seek to provide explanation and hope that these gentlemen would have the decency to apologize.
Mr Ramjattan is clear in his implication that I sought medical attention abroad with government funds. I cannot be clearer – I did not seek the services of any medical doctor or institution. There is, therefore, no need for me to rely on government to pay any medical expenses. Indeed, I am again asking for the auditor general to check and determine how much the government has supported me in terms of medical expenses in Guyana or abroad any time during my tenure as Minister of Health. The fact is that I have never requested any support from the Government of Guyana for personal medical expenses in Guyana or abroad. I did not do so when I was in the hospital in 2004 and I have not done so at any time.
Mr Ramjattan and Mr Kissoon have both accused me of hypocrisy in boasting of our achievements in the health sector, but seeking medical attention abroad. I stand ready to defend my statements that the health sector is better today than it was twenty years ago or ten years ago. If these gentlemen want to deny this, then the public can judge.
Life expectancy in Guyana was below 60 in 1990. It is today 70. Maternal and infant mortalities have been reduced by more than half. There are more medicines and more medical services available. Our infrastructure and technology are better. We have more health care workers than before. There was no radiation service available before 2005. Cardiac services were not available before 2007. There was a backlog of more than 15,000 cataract cases in Guyana before 2000. Now we are down to under 1,000 cases. These are but some examples of the improvement.
The health sector is not perfect and there are certain things we need to do better. There are certain things we cannot do still. All the services we need as citizens of Guyana, no matter what our position is cannot be delivered at this time. But much more of what we need is being delivered than at any time in the history of our country. The facts cannot be changed. This is not boasting, this is merely stating the facts. The opposition parties have several times conceded this fact.
If I need services that are available in Guyana, I will access those services right here. It is my choice, not that of Mr Ramjattan or Mr Kissoon. I need not share those times I have had such a need and I have done so. But if I need medical attention not available here and I can access such services abroad, if I could afford it, I will do so too. One thing Mr Ramjattan and Mr Kissoon can be confident of is that I will not ask the Government of Guyana to support me. It is not that I am wealthy. It is that I recognized the fact that petty people like Mr Kissoon and Mr Ramjattan will question my right to such assistance. I, therefore, made up my mind a long time ago that I would not allow such issues to become a public debate.
As the Minister of Health, I have assisted hundreds of Guyanese to access services abroad that are not available in Guyana and I will continue to do so.
My family may not be in a position to help me all the time. If that is so I will do without the service. But I have relied on my family for support whenever I needed medical attention not available here. I am not ashamed that I lived abroad before and I developed certain relationships and arrangements that allow me to access such services. It is mean-spirited and petty for anyone to attack me for this.
These are not only examples of the lowest level of pettiness by these so-called defenders of decency and upright behaviour in our society, it is testimony to the hate they have for the government for some of us. Without real reasons to attack us, they find petty things to make a federal case. I believe the citizens of Guyana will judge.
One thing is for certain that tonight at midnight whiles Mr Ramjattan and Mr Kissoon would be rightfully enjoying themselves with the lives they have earned in Guyana, I will be working to make sure the health sector is serving people better in our country. Sick or not, I will be at work. Every Guyanese can rest assured of that. If every now or then I need to take a break, I will announce it so as to make life easy for Mr Ramjattan and Mr Kissoon as they write and pontificate profoundly for the Guyanese public.
Yours faithfully,
Leslie Ramsammy
Minister of Health
