The Specialty Hospital will not benefit the poor

Dec 02, 2013 Letters

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Dear Editor,
We have been listening very carefully to the Minister of Health Dr. Bherry and other senior members of the PPP who have spoken about the need for a better public health care system but have not done anything substantial to improve the poor conditions at the public hospitals where people are dying from simple medical complications such as child birth.
We must say that Dr. Bherry and his PPP cohorts come across as very caring and conscientious to improve the quality of the public health care system, but they have another hidden agenda: that is their appeal for the Specialty Hospital that will cost taxpayers millions of dollars in kick-backs and for what purpose. We believe that the Specialty Hospital will be another white elephant like the Skeldon Sugar Factory, the Enmore Sugar Packaging Plant, the Marriott Hotel, the Road to Amaila Falls, and the Supenaam Stelling. By now, the people know that the corrupt PPP regime is only good at one thing, that is how to squander the taxpayers’ money on projects that will benefit themselves, their friends and relatives.
We are fully aware that there are people currently working in that system who are both saddened and deeply puzzled at the PPP regime determination and intent to go ahead with plans to build a new billion dollar Specialty Hospital while the existing public hospitals throughout the country are all in a mess and definitely in need of some urgent care. People are risking their health when they go to the public hospitals. Needles and plastic gloves are in shortage and medical tools are not being sterilized. They should heed what one singer said “ If you go to the Georgetown Hospital with a GUM BOIL you will end up SIX FEET IN THE SOIL.”
We are told that not one of the existing hospitals is functioning properly or is equipped and staffed adequately. For example, essential pieces of medical equipment like a simple x-ray unit does not function properly at the Georgetown Hospital  and several others are out of service. And the same is true for almost all the other hospitals where toilets do not flush, sinks do not work and garbage cans are constantly overflowing with garbage. And it is worst for medical supplies.
Most, if not all of the hospitals in Guyana, including the Georgetown Hospital are in a sad state. Patients simply cannot rely on them to save their lives. At present, and for some time now, the hospitals are poorly staffed, and there is a shortage of drugs. They do not have enough beds or proper medical facilities and equipment to treat patients.  After 47 years of independence, most of the hospitals are only equipped to treat patients with minor cuts and bruises.  Those with a serious malady such as heart problems have to seek medical attention in private hospitals or overseas if they want to survive. In addition there are not enough midwives, nurses or attendants. Every hospital has a staff shortage and that includes doctors and nurses. Little wonder that so many patients seeking medical help in the public hospitals often complain bitterly about the poor quality of service they receive. And this is a story that can be repeated by hundreds, if not thousands, of people whose experience with the public health care system is simply atrocious. This is the norm at the public hospitals which the PPP has ignored.
Over the years, employees within the public health care system have complained that the compounds of the hospitals in the rural areas have not been cleaned in years, thus allowing insects, rodents and snakes to have a free rein. Yes! In our public hospitals which are supposed to be realms of cleanliness, there are insects and rodents!
Instead of the PPP spending billions on a new hospital; they should spend the money among the existing hospitals to improve the poor services. Herein lies the problem; if the minority PPP government cannot run the public hospitals that they have now, what makes them think they can manage a new hospital or that services will improve? Why the rush to build a Specialty Hospital when only the rich and powerful and not the poor and the working class will benefit? The PPP cabal is building this hospital for themselves, their relatives and friends; they are not interested in helping the poor.
Worst yet, there is even gloomier speculation in some quarters about that proposed new billion-dollar Specialty Hospital. Is it just another grandiose project that will make it possible for corruption to flourish? Corruption in the PPP regime is evident in almost every contract and at all levels of the government. Building a billion-dollar project like the new Specialty Hospital when conditions in the existing hospitals are in a very bad state, suspicions about such a project are bound to arise because many believe that it is simply a cover for corruption.
None of these issues have been properly addressed by the Minister of Health which clearly seems to be in need of some fairly urgent care and attention. We have no doubt at all that Dr. Berry has very good intentions, but then we all know that the road to hell is broadly and adequately paved with such intentions. We strongly believe that Dr. Berry and the PPP Government should seriously reconsider the idea of building the Specialty Hospital and focus their attention in providing better and proper services at the public hospitals. It is a downright shame that in this day and age, two people are sleeping on the same bed at the Georgetown and New Amsterdam public hospitals.
We strongly believe that the building of a new hospital is not a good idea. The situation with regards to the conditions at our long standing hospitals is not a new one, nor is the horror stories that go with them. The issues are deeply rooted ones, and all point to a PPP mindset that they do not care about the masses.
The PPP seems more interested in the politics of building the Specialty Hospital than its actual advantage for the citizens. It is the same mindset that goes with the poor services and the lack of adequate medical staff and shortage of medicines and beds at the public hospitals. Not that it will provide the citizens with easier access to better service, but that it is a form of propaganda by this corrupt regime to fool the people once again. These attitudes are the reasons why today Guyanese are still complaining about poor conditions at the public Hospitals, and why the PPP has failed to adequately address them during the last 21 years. The PPP blatant corrupt practices have made the people even more skeptical about the regime concerns with regards to the quality of healthcare that will be afforded to them by the Specialty Hospital.
A.R.

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