THE ONGOING CRISES IN THE HEALTH SECTOR

Nov 29, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
Although I am living overseas, I have been following the development of the issues in the various sectors that are affecting Guyana. While I am of the view that the leaders and decision makers of Guyana may not pay any heed to the various letters written in the letter columns in the newspapers, I am still motivated to bring out my opinion by the way of this letter. This is my first letter and I will be writing many more once time permits me to do so. I decided to write my first piece on the Health Sector. For the past years, I read various articles about the Health Sector and it seems like no one is keen in addressing the main issues affecting the Health Sector. Recently, I have read about the following:
1. The Drug Bond and Shortages of Drugs
2. The Management of Guyana Drugs Bond and Contracts
3. The Maternal Deaths
4. The Re-instating and Sending off of the CEO of GPHC
5. The rift between the Board Chairman and the Minister
6. The Strengthening of the GPHC Management
7. The creating of a new Board without Dr. Hanoman as the Chair.
These articles and many other informal feedbacks tell me that the Health Sector is in crisis. My view is that no Government should play politics with the two main sectors in a country; Health and Education. If the APNU-AFC Government wants to build a healthy and a wealthy nation, they should pay more attention to what is going on in the Health Sector. While Dr. Norton may have the nation and the government policy at heart, he has around him some very incompetent advisors. He should stop listening to them and follow the advice of the professionals. He has around him some of the administrators including the PS and the DPS from the previous regime who have the health sector in the state that it is currently in.
The GPHC Board is about to be renewed and according to what is implied in the recent article, one can determine that Dr. Norton does not want Dr. Hanoman as the Chairman of the Board. If that is the case, who will they put to head the Board? To my mind, there is only one other person who I think can do a very good job and that person is Dr. Richard Van West Charles. In the first case, I do not know why he is not the Minister of Health. He has the wealth of experience and the international connection and networking to make Guyana’s Health Sector better. I am therefore calling on President David Granger to review the performance of the health sector and take the necessary steps to remedy the situation. President Granger should conduct a Commission of Inquiry in the Management of the Health Sector with the assistance of PAHO/WHO, UNAIDS, CDC and the Global Fund.
David Singh Jr

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