Dear Editor,
According to Dr Carl Max Hanoman in the SN letter columns of September 12, ‘Local options should be exhausted before patients engage in fund-raising for overseas treatment,’ and I quite agree with him on that score.
I was in a similar situation to Nicola Blades. On July 20, 2004, I suffered a motorcycle accident and sustained injuries. An examination at the Suddie Public Hospital on the said day revealed that I had suffered a back injury. On July 22, I was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital after being diagnosed with an injury to the T-8 vertebra of my spine. An MRI scan in Trinidad was recommended before surgery, because no scan was available in the country at that time, but because of financial and logistical constraints, I was unable to get the scan. Nevertheless, a doctor went ahead and performed the operation at the George-town Hospital after which I was discharged.
From the date of my discharge on I was in a constant battle to acquire corrective treatment overseas because of wrong surgery. I was the sole breadwinner in my house and I was bedridden. It took me four years before I received corrective treatment in India and although I cannot walk yet, I am 100 per cent better now. One should seek regional expertise in neurology because most times patients are only seen by an orthopaedic doctor before surgery is performed. Minister Ramsammy and Dr Bheri Ramsarran should bring neurological services to the health sector from India. They are the best in my opinion; I have seen that there.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
