Dear Editor,
The advent of the dreaded disease Covid-19 raised its head in March 2019 when the world became aware of it but the seriousness of the consequential effect was not then felt. When the PPP took office in August 2020, the catastrophe of the disease was manifest and they knew that the task ahead was of mammoth proportion. The appointment of Dr. Frank Anthony as the Minister of Health by President Irfaan Ali was a master stroke. Dr. Frank Anthony had been in the last PPP Government, the Minister responsible for Culture, Youth and Sports. I sincerely believed that with his professional background he had yearned for a change but that was not to be. However the opportunity came up in last August and he was made the Minister of Health. The question to be asked is how is he to be graded since taking the mantle of being responsible for the health of the nation. His primary focus was Covid-19 and his ministry was given the required funds to execute a national program. Guyana did not hesitate in securing vaccines despite the huge cost and praise must be given to President Ali and Minister Frank Anthony for having the foresight to order and ensure that Guyana was in a position to vaccinate its citizens.
There was and still are some in Guyana who are opposed to being vaccinated and I do hope that this reluctance will dissipate shortly as the statistics clearly show that ninety eight per cent of those dying from Covid-19 are those who have not been vaccinated and if vaccinated or partially vaccinated that they suffered from other under-lying heath issues. Minister Frank Anthony this week reported that there was decline in Covid-19 cases across the country but that there were some areas that can be considered as hot spots. He also stated that there was a decrease in the hospitalization of Covid-19 cases and that there were a total of sixty hospitalization cases nationally. This is good as far as I am concerned but we all need to keep our distance and guard up.
I would give our Minister of Health a grading of A Plus on his handling of the Covid-19 battle. As regards the other components of his Ministry, he still has a lot of work to do. The recent maternal deaths at Government hospitals are not good and he has to investigate and implement plans to stop this rot. But as is in all cases, a leader can only do with the resources that he has at his disposal and if given the assets to improve, then it will take time to see any improvement. This is why Minister Frank Anthony must set up a team of competent and objective persons to recommend the way for a better health system. We have a lot of doctors but are they being given continued education? Are their conditions of work and benefits encouraging for them to go above and beyond of what is expected? There is a shortage of nurses but what can be done to attract and keep them in the system and more so in Guyana? Better wages, better training, better working conditions and benefits? He must ensure that there are more trained technicians to ensure that the equipment in the health sector is maintained and kept in prime condition. He must make sure that competency is rewarded and efforts be made to bring up those who lag behind. Motivation is essential and it is not only the Minister who must have this quality but all the heads of departments and those are in a supervisory capacity. In conclusion, I would say that Minister Frank Anthony is doing a good job and should be commended.
Sincerely,
K.A. Juman-Yassin S.C, A.A.
