Health Minister accuses int’l partners of unfair reporting

Jan 28, 2011 News

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Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, was in defence mode yesterday as he lashed out at some of his Ministry’s international partners, accusing them of being unfair to Guyana when it comes to their reporting of the local health situation.
He was at the time addressing a forum at the Regency Hotel, which was aimed at reflecting on the performance of the Health Ministry’s Maternal and Child Health/Expanded Programme on Immunisation.
According to the Minister, although entities the likes of PAHO/WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA have all been good partners, they have been absolutely unfair, with respect to reporting.
“It is one thing to say to the health workers that we have a formula and it is the formula we will follow; to hell with the data you have. As Minister of Health of Guyana I will stand firm. Because there is under-reporting in the world as it applies to Guyana? I can guarantee that every pregnant woman that dies in this country I know about within 24 hours…”
“I have been working in the public health sector of this country and I have never known in all my tenure that 75 women died of childbirth in Guyana. In our worst days it hasn’t happened and so when you publish and you refuse to accept our data and say it is 470 (deaths) it is absolutely wrong…,” the Minister told a gathering of health workers which also included representatives of the international entities.
According to the Minister, it is not just about highlighting something wrong but rather that the attempts to disrespect and demoralise local health workers must no longer be tolerated, insisting that they deserve better.
He asserted that no formula devised in Geneva, Switzerland (the location of the PAHO/WHO head office) is better than what is known within the respective health facilities. He attested to the fact yesterday that the health workers within the local public health system are known to work hard and tirelessly to achieve the desired results, adding that if anyone has a problem with the data that is produced, efforts should be made to bring it to the attention of the Ministry.
“I have talked with the representatives of these organisations in this country, they dispute the data and I say to them show me…And until you can do that use my data,” the Minister insisted as he chided the attempts to contradict existing data.
As part of his efforts to dispel the attempts to brandish the health sector as one which produces purely daunting statistics, the Minister revealed plans to meet all stakeholders in the new week to ensure that the disregard for Guyana comes to a definite end.
“I am calling in everybody, because the disregard must stop now. I will not accept any publication with data that never applied to this country,” he stressed.
He underscored, too, that in the same manner that the health sector has been urged to be accountable, international partners must also seek to be answerable.
“You must come and show me where you got that number and unless you can show me you cannot publish those numbers…And the excuse that ‘we are using old numbers’ those numbers do not even apply. Where they got it not a single person can tell me…”
And it has not only been the area of Maternal and Child Health that has suffered from less than accurate reporting, as according to the Minister, another publication on life expectancy data was grossly misrepresented.
“We did the numbers using all the same raw data. We wrote them, told them that they were wrong. They wrote me back and said ‘sorry, we went through it again and you are right’. But they proceeded to publish the wrong numbers…This is utter disrespect for a country.”
The Minister stated yesterday that despite the varying reports that have surfaced, there is no evidence of disharmony when it comes to being on pace to achieving targets outlined by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, he noted that it is simply time that “people respect us a little bit.”
According to Minister Ramsammy, in 1991, 57 women died of childbirth in Guyana, a figure which translated to a rate of 32 per 10,000 deliveries. In 2009 the statistics reflected a marked reduction with less than 9 deaths per 10,000 deliveries.
“Are we on pace for the MDGs? My answer is yes. Because if you want to say there is under-reporting today then the under-reporting had to be massive in 1991.”
In fact, the Minister pointed out, no one can say today that the public health sector’s information system is not better than it was in 1991. He insisted that it should be common knowledge that the current information system is superior to what obtained in the past, thus the need for persons and entities alike to endeavour to be more fair in their reporting.
During a recent meeting which was attended by representatives of international partners, Minister Ramsammy revealed that it was agreed what the local health statistics are.
In this regard, he said, there is much to be proud of, particularly in the area of immunisation and the different vaccines that have been introduced.
“In terms of the number of vaccines that we have, we rank at the top levels of countries. The only relevant vaccines that we don’t have in Guyana are the ones that have been deemed around the Region not to be the ones that would be of immediate benefit.”

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