Dear Editor,
I am a Government Medical Officer designated as the Police Surgeon in the Guyana Police Force. My job is to determine the fitness of recruits, to take care of the general health of the staff of the Guyana Police Force, the fire service and the prison service. I also see prisoners in the Georgetown Prison and lock-up detainees whenever they are presented to me. I am not part of the command structure of the police force, ie I do not issue orders to the ranks or the officers of the force.
Having stated this, let me say that I am utterly dismayed by and concerned about the article ‘Doctor’s actions reveal a callous indifference beyond belief – GHRA’ published in the Kaieteur News dated November 10, 2009. The GHRA never sought my professional opinion on the patient whom I saw at the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station on October 29, 2009, but mischievously resorted to capricious, spurious and slanderous allegations which I suspect were carefully crafted to satisfy some sordid or malicious intent. On the said day, I was called out by the police administration to see a patient about ten kilometers away from my home at 6 pm, a time very much outside my normal working hours. I readily agreed to go and see the patient. I would like to ask the GHRA whether acting beyond the call of duty is an act of callous indifference.
On arrival at the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station, I saw two ranks in the inquiry area and introduced myself to them. After a short wait, I was presented with the said patient who was naked except for his head which was covered with a bag. At this point. I must point out to the GHRA that the bag “was not tightened at the neck with a string and that the patient was breathing comfortably.
The injured area was exposed and that was solely my concern and focus. On examining the area I concluded that the patient was suffering from 1st degree (superficial) burns of the genital area, upper thighs and lower buttocks (5-9%). I did not see any other “areas of brutality” as alleged by the GHRA, nor did I see any signs of dehydration as alleged by the GHRA. I did mention verbally that the patient should have been carried to the hospital. Again I ask the GHRA whether this is callous indifference. I had a stamped prescription which I had walked with in anticipation of any medication that needed to be prescribed and I did prescribe antibiotics/analgesics and an antiseptic cream. This fact was misleadingly left out of the article based on a release from the GHRA. Again I ask whether this is callous indifference or complicity to torture.
I never said that the patient was okay. In the given circumstances where no stationery was available and in a non-clinical setting, I did the best I could and acted with a clear conscience. I should like to make it clear that I have been practising medicine in the Guyana Police Force for the past twelve years and I have always treated patients presented to me with care, sensitivity and concern, whether they be ranks from the Guyana Police Force, detainees from the lock-ups or prisoners.
I have never ever knowingly or unknowingly encouraged torture, neither have I ever participated in any cover-up or ‘down-play.’ I left the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station with the assumption that the patient would have been carried to the hospital as soon as it was possible to do so. To accuse me of a dereliction of duty and passive complicity with torture I consider to be most insulting and incorrect, and a sinister attempt to vilify and malign.
I refute the news article in the strongest possible terms and request that the GHRA stops forthwith associating me with direct, indirect, passive or active torture. I am not that kind of person, nor am I that kind of doctor.
I urge that all of the unfounded and derisive remarks about me be retracted, and also that I be issued with an unconditional apology.
Finally I would suggest to the GHRA to cease casting aspersions in the media and to focus their energies more on some real humanitarian work in the prisons and underprivileged areas of the country.
Yours faithfully,
Mahendra Chand
