WHY IS OUTPUT FROM THE HEALTH SECTOR SO WORRYING?

Aug 06, 2016 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The health sector of Guyana has been criticized under both the PPP and now today under the PNC led Coalition Government for not delivering to the people.  However, to deliver to the people requires skillful and talented leadership. Even for a layman like me, it is extremely clear that something is really wrong with our health sector today in 2016 under Dr. George Norton and his deputy Dr. Karen Cummings.  This situation is especially worrying at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
On April 21, 2015, in the run up to the May 2015 elections, two leading candidates on the Coalition list Dr. Surendra Persaud and Dr. Cummings outlined that the GPHC needs to be “run like a corporation (business) rather than a state agency”. They were both absolutely correct then. Since May 2015, the GPHC has been run exactly like a heavily politicized state agency. So were the PNC and AFC just talking in 2015 and had no intentions of delivering on their words?
If one looks at the list of voting board members on the GPHC board one can find a notable medical figure in Dr. Max Hanomon.  Also there were some other valid representatives – Treasury (Ms. Sonya Roopnauth), Workers (Mr. Kempton Alexander) and Ms Collette Adams (Deputy PS at the Health Ministry).  But when you look at the rest of the board, they lacked real talent, skills and experience to aid in the process of turning around the GPHC into quasi business rather than an extension of the PNC, the GDF, the AFC and their political lackeys in Congress Place and AFC House.
Let us start with GDF Colonel Patrick West, who is the Commander of the Guyana People’s Militia (GPM), the reserve arm of the GDF.  With the threat to our territorial integrity in active play, the role of the GDF and GPM has to be more militarily focused.  I am told that Colonel West, who is an active member of the joint services, has the responsibility to train some 1,500 part time soldiers as back up to the GDF over the next 12 months. When will he find the time to help turnaround the GPHC?
It is clear Colonel West is in the wrong place at the wrong time and like a loyal soldier is only following orders blindly, warming a chair, enjoying the board meals and collecting a stipend. What he will not be able to do, is to strategically intervene as a change agent into a process that needs urgent expert attention. Notice, I did not knock the Colonel’s military competence since I think he will do a great job helping President Granger resuscitate the GPM.  However, I am not sure about his skills at hospital administration and therefore his place on the GPHC Board is being seen as nothing else but a militaristic intervention into Guyana’s main hospital.
When compared to experts like Dr. Morris Edwards or Dr. Surendra Persaud or Dr. Hardat Persaud or Dr. Brian Niles, Colonel West comes across as a novice in hospital administration.  But who cares; this is the GDF time and we “pun tap”!  If this country is to progress and socially heal, this mistake must be corrected.  The GPHC cannot benefit from this GDF man and thus this is another job for the boys.  I wonder in which hole Minister Ramjattan has found himself hiding as he watches this invasion of the GDF continues?
Then you have Cleopatra Barkoey, who is not even on the voter’s list so it is clear that she could be a phantom who had no interest in Guyana before May 2015, but got pulled in because of the family and friends connections.  So they cuss former President Ramotar about his family and friends but today they are doing worse than Ramotar. What hypocrisy? What does Ms Cleo bring to the GPHC to help it turn around?  Is she another political friend like her colleague in Region 5 that was parachuted military style into the hospital to generate loyalty rather than help the people of Guyana?
Then lastly on this board is one Mandy Sukdeo, who has a certificate in a DENTEX program (dental assistant).  This lady is so influential in the Granger administration that she also sits on the Cheddi Jagan Airport Board. But then when you recognize that her trainer and friend in the DENTEX program is a close relative of an AFC Minister in the Granger administration, the loose ends tie up.  So the AFC led by Mr. Ramjattan who used to cuss down Jagdeo about nepotism has today morphed into a creature worse than Jagdeo with its nepotism.  This Ramjattan led AFC has bypassed a management expert in hospital administration Dr. Surendra Persaud and nominate a dental assistant to serve them at this strategic level in the health sector.  Shame on the AFC!
This same Minister also placed Mandy Sukdeo on the Cheddi Jagan Airport Board.  I am surprised that he did not put her on GPL Board also because it appears she has skills on all fronts. The Guyanese people need to know that nepotism is alive in Guyana thanks to the AFC and the Granger administration.
So while all the people voted for change in 2015, what they got instead was exchange. Is it more clear why the output from the health sector will continue to be worrying in 2016?  Do we understand why between now and 2020 there will be absolute misery for the people when they visit the Georgetown Hospital?  Nothing will change because Dr. Max Hanoman alone cannot do it; he needs a competent, and appropriately skilled, experienced and well-focused board to help him and that he does not have; thanks to the Granger administration.  This is a case of giving Dr. Hamonan a basket to fetch water.  Good luck to him.
Jai (Harry) Lall

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