Dear Editor,
I write this letter after months and years of waiting. I’ve waited very anxiously for health care providers, especially administrators, to take ideas and requests and turn them into services.
I write this with heaviness because the Guyana of empathy and morale fibre that I grew up knowing is dead. Guyana’s health care system has progressed. What is progress if the value of life is diminished to how much money you have? I refuse to accept that more have to die in order for things to get right. Too many stories have unfolded in our daily papers of death resulting from neglect or misdiagnosis.
This letter is penned from personal experience and pain. Were it not for me being so vocal and curious during my experience, I probably would not have been alive to write this letter. Prayers were said and answered during a 48-hour period.
Does anyone at these public health facilities ever think about if they were the patient? Or suppose the patient were their immediate family or friend? They should think about ways to save lives and help people recover to live full active lives.
Recently, I read about the three-year-old who died at the Public Hospital. Her mother spent one week trying to figure/find out what was wrong with her baby. Only after she died was she told that her daughter had pneumonia.
What exactly does a doctor need in terms of symptoms in order for tests to be run? It seems as though it depends on the moods of the staff of the hospital as to the care you receive. Why can’t an administrator or head nurse suggest that urgent patients be transferred to a competent private hospital if they know that are not capable/equipped to do the work?
It is my humble suggestion that private hospitals should make policy changes that would allow them to take on at least five charity patients per week.
It is my strong belief that no parent should have to bury their child. Even though seniors are living longer, some of the younger generation regrettably may not see age forty.
I miss boasting that ‘Guyana is the best place to be when you’re sick.’ Now I need to add ‘if you have money.’ Editor, I am sure that there is something that can change.
Yours faithfully,
U Williams
