Dear Editor,
The Public Relations Office of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation herein issues a response to an article published in the October 19 edition of the Kaieteur News captioned, ‘Police ranks accuse GPHC staff of discrimination.’
Foremost, the PR Office wishes to thank the courteous reporter from the Stabroek News for allowing the hospital the opportunity to delve into the matter before taking same to print. However, as has become the norm, some reporters from the Kaieteur News are always seemingly in a rush to print stories that defame/discredit the hospital before granting it the opportunity to investigate an accusation which was levelled against it. The story in point suggests or accuses the medical staff of the Accident and Emergency Unit of discriminating against a member of the Guyana Police Force. However, the PR Office would like to highlight a number of pertinent issues which were not considered and as such led to the fallacious statements printed in the article.
First, the A&E Unit on Monday saw a number of emergency cases which warranted the doctors’ urgent attention. The officer in question presented a case of abdominal pain (categorized as non-immediate/non-life threatening) and therefore could not be prioritized ahead of critical cases such as shortness of breath, lacerations with profuse bleeding, inter alia, which were being treated at that time.
With respect to the statement which claimed that as a result of a verbal confrontation, the triage nurse, “[ordered] the [officers] to leave the A&E Unit,” it must be clearly stated that because of the nature of this department, the unit’s supervisor(s)/staff has the right to ask visitors to proceed to the designated waiting area so as not to cluster in the A&E and hinder its smooth operations.
Moreover, all visitors who were congregating in the A&E at the time were asked to wait in that area, not only the officers, as was insinuated. Additionally, as was misleadingly photographed and captioned in the article, the patient was never asked, instructed or advised “to lie in the sun on a bench” to receive treatment. He was instructed to wait in the designated area but he refused and chose to lie outside. He was on several occasions asked to return to the waiting area, but did not comply.
Management reiterates that discrimination against anyone is not condoned and should any patient experience this, he/she must go through the appropriate chain and have the matter dealt with accordingly.
It is noteworthy that if any complaint is lodged against any of the hospital’s staff members, the matter is investigated fully and necessary actions are taken; no matter is left unaddressed!
Moreover, the hospital’s management urges members of the public to view the very informative recording of the how the A&E Unit operates, available at the Ministry of Health’s Health Communications Unit. This tape will undoubtedly clarify a number of misconceptions that the public has about the unit’s operations.
GPHC concludes that it was on the sole basis that the patient is a member of the Guyana Police Force that he assumed that preferential treatment would have been granted regardless of the nature of his complaint.
This patient arrived at the A&E Unit and according to records, received treatment within one-and-a-half hours and was sent home within four hours of his arrival – for an ailment which is deemed a non-emergency case. Generally, this patient was seen within a reasonable timeframe and his actions and those of his colleagues were deemed quite unnecessary.
Yours faithfully,
Alero Proctor
Public Relations Officer
Georgetown Public Hospital
Corporation
