Dear Editor,
Here is a scenario which is by no means farfetched. A four-apartment house is rented by four unrelated tenants aged 72, 73, 74 and 75; the landlord holds the transport for the property. The landlord is 45 years old. How does each tenant benefit from the GWI subsidy? Not one of the tenants qualifies; they must therefore equally pay a portion of the water bill because the relevant government policy states that the subsidy accrues or applies only to the legally registered owner. Is this fair? Or was this what the drafters of the relevant legislation really intended?
Now to legally prescribed drugs and medications in the public health System: I refer you to my letter of August 14, 2010, captioned, ‘Are prescribed drugs really free?
In that letter I referred to a number of ailments which the Ministry of Health (MOH) categorizes as the major causes of debility and death in Guyana, yet the drugs, medication, pills, etc, are very often unavailable when a proper prescription is tendered at the free public health pharmacies, but can be readily purchased at any and all pharmacies/drug stores.
I will specifically address a heart condition called atrial fibrillation. It is a rampant and deadly condition if not controlled by the drug Vastarel MR. In year 2011, I can recall just one month when this lifesaving drug was available at GPHC or any public pharmacy in Guyana. The dilemma for senior citizens is that two tablets must be taken daily for life. At two tablets each day, the cost is $5000 each month.
Editor, I leave you and your readership to unravel and to calculate the cost of all the other unavailable drugs, and believe me there are quite a few, which match the scenario of Vastarel MR. These high-rated killer ailments that the MOH says need urgent and immediate attention if they are to be controlled or eliminated, surely must be a priority for the new Minister of Health, the very one who hosts the television programme ‘Getting It Right.’
Yours faithfully,
George L Munroe
CEO (rtd) GPHC
