There was a disturbing video that circulated on social media this week of a medical doctor protesting in front of State House. The woman said that she is in an unemployment crisis and had been making efforts to see President Ali which were futile and led to her protesting. Of course, there were opinions about her actions. There were people supporting her and talking about discrimination, some questioned if she could not look for other options for employment such as working overseas or opening a private practice, and some questioned her mental health. Any qualified Guyanese should be able to find suitable employment in Guyana, but we know that many of our people leave every year seeking greener pastures. Whether it is that they cannot find jobs suitable for their qualifications or inadequate earnings, Guyanese continue to leave even with the growing oil wealth. One would imagine however, that Guyanese doctors who want to work in Guyana would have no issue finding employment and would never be so desperate as to humiliate themselves in the way the young woman did. Especially when there are many foreign doctors working here. But perhaps the Ministry of Health’s press release, which is mentioned later, will clarify the young lady’s plight if all that was said is true.
What was most disturbing about the video for me, was that the medical doctor was on her knees begging. She relegated herself to being like a slave as she begged the president for a job.
When an air of obsequiousness blows across the land that reminds us of the days of whips, chains, and the stripping away of spirituality and culture, it should make people uncomfortable. For in this land where we were told we are born free, no one should feel like a slave. Stories about people on their knees, referring to themselves as slaves are stories that should not be written in the 2023 oil rich and dream ‘One Guyana’. Such stories should have left these shores when the ships left with the colonizers. In this great country Guyana’s children should have formed a bond that no outsider or local enemy of the people could break. But the colonizers never completely left, did they? Instead, their businesses were just rebranded and the oppressed began to take on the role of oppressor. So here we are trapped by our own minds in a beautiful country with great potential that should have long been fully realised. Here is where the fastest growing economy is in the Caribbean, but also exploitation; here where a doctor could be on her knees begging to be employed.
A ploy or desperation? A case of a mental health crisis or a sound decision to get the president’s attention? Whatever the answer, it is concerning. The fact that some of our citizens will make themselves small or allow themselves to be used in the political game is troubling. The attitude that many take on in this country to not question, to remain silent or to simply ignore, is the reason our country is still so divided. And who fuels the divide? It is some of our leaders who influence the people and of course the silent ones who seek to own or own Guyana. A case of a mental health crisis? We cannot diagnose. Still, it brings attention to the growing number of Guyanese who are facing mental health crises. Whether it is brought on by trauma, abuse, discrimination, violence, drugs and alcohol abuse, genetics, injury, COVID related stress or the general hardships they are facing in a country where it is becoming harder to live for the poorer class, mental health needs to be more thoroughly addressed in Guyana. It begins with people not being shamed into silence when they are hurting and supporting and building the mechanisms in place to address mental health.
Whatever the young woman’s reasons or state of mind that she thought it best to protest in front of State House, all possibilities are concerning. Here in the land where we have grown and are growing but are somehow still stagnated, it should make us uncomfortable that a doctor was protesting in front of State House. How did we get here? How can a doctor be begging for a job in a land where people complain about healthcare including a shortage of doctors? Why in the year 2023, a hundred and eighty-two years after Emancipation, the thought must enter the mind of any woman of African descent to get on her knees and call herself a slave as she begs the president for a job? Again, how did we get here and why are many so comfortable watching these indignities unfold?
In the giddiness and awe of what oil can bring to a country, many of us did not think about the curses it could also bring. We did not think about gentrification. We did not think about how the poor would be affected. Perhaps we thought that oil money would be equally shared among the people and there would be no poor man in Guyana. But look at us. Watching the wealth gap widen between the rich and the poor, new roads, new hotels, citizens bulldozed and a doctor begging and calling herself a slave.
There was a Ministry of Health press release responding to the doctor’s actions this week. They said she is a former employee of the Ministry of Health, had received a scholarship, studied in Cuba but was unsuccessful in completing her clinical rotations on two occasions to be registered with the Medical Council of Guyana. It also said that she has exceeded the maximum time to register with the council and was accused of unethical and unprofessional behaviour while she was employed at the Ministry of Health.
Some months ago, the doctor claimed that she faced discrimination and that the Medical Council refused her a licence.
We are reminded that there is her version, their version, and the truth. So, what is the truth? It does not change the fact, that a doctor was on her knees, calling herself a slave and begging for a job and she has a young son to feed. So harsh.
Guyanese, instead of being on our knees begging and thinking ourselves slaves, we should be on our feet, heads lifted above the difficulties that tells us we are powerless. Guyanese this is still our land, our resources and we the people still have the power. Or do we? When will we rise and walk in our greatness.
