Dear Editor,
We have been listening very carefully to the Minister of Health Dr Bheri Ramsaran and other senior members of the PPP who have spoken about the need for a better public health care system but have not done anything substantial to improve the poor conditions at the public hospitals.
We must say that Dr Ramsarran and his PPP cohorts come across as very caring and conscientious in relation to improving the quality of the public health care system, but they have another hidden agenda: that is their appeal for the Specialty Hospital that will cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
We are fully aware that there are people currently working in that system who are both saddened and deeply puzzled at the PPP regime’s determination to go ahead with plans to build a new billion dollar Specialty Hospital while the existing public hospitals throughout the country are definitely in need of some urgent care.
We are told that many of the existing hospitals are not functioning properly or are ill equipped and staffed inadequately.
Most of the hospitals in Guyana are in a sad state. Patients simply cannot rely on them to save their lives. For some time now, the hospitals have been poorly staffed, and with not enough drugs. Many do not have enough beds or proper medical facilities and equipment to treat patients. After 47 years of independence, many of the hospitals are only equipped to treat patients with minor cuts and bruises. Those with a serious malady have to seek medical attention overseas if they want to survive. In addition there are not enough midwives, nurses or attendants. Every hospital has a staff shortage and that includes doctors and nurses. Little wonder that so many patients seeking medical help in the public hospitals often complain bitterly about the poor quality of service they receive. And this is a story that can be repeated by hundreds, if not thousands, of people. This is what the PPP has ignored.
Over the years, employees within the public health care system have complained that the compounds of the hospitals in the rural areas have not been cleaned in years, thus allowing insects and rodents to have a free rein. Yes! In our public hospitals which are supposed to be realms of cleanliness.
Instead of the PPP spending billions on a new hospital, they should spend the money on the existing hospitals to improve the services. Herein lies the problem: if the minority PPP government cannot run the public hospitals that they have now, what makes them think a new hospital will improve things? Why the rush to build a Specialty Hospital when only the rich and powerful and not the poor and the working class will benefit? The PPP is building this hospital for themselves, their relatives and friends; they are not interested in helping the poor.
None of these issues has been properly addressed by the Minister of Health. We have no doubt at all that Dr Ramsaran has very good intentions, but then we all know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We strongly believe that the Minister and the PPP Government should reconsider the idea of building the Specialty Hospital and focus their attention on providing better and proper services at the public hospitals.
We strongly believe that the building of a new hospital is not a good idea. The situation with regard to the conditions at our longstanding hospitals is not a new one, nor are the horror stories that go with them. The issues are deeply rooted ones, and all point to a PPP mindset that they do not care about the masses.
The PPP seems more interested in the politics of building the Specialty Hospital than its actual advantage for the citizens. It is the same mindset that goes with the poor services and the lack of adequate medical staff and shortage of medicines and beds at the public hospitals. These attitudes are the reasons why today Guyanese are still complaining about poor conditions at the public hospitals, and why the PPP has failed to adequately address them during the last 21 years. PPP actions have made the people even more sceptical with regard to the quality of healthcare that will be afforded them by the Specialty Hospital.
Yours faithfully,
Asquith Rose
Harish S Singh
