From fake news to fake illness

Mar 30, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Years ago, a government worker went to see the doctor at the out-patient department of the Georgetown Public Hospital. He complained that he had the flu.
The doctor checked his temperature. It was okay. The doctor checked his tongue. No problem was found. The doctor used a wooden spatula to check and ask him to say “AH!” There was no sore throat. The doctor found no sign of a running nose.
The doctor asked the man if he had diarrhea. The man said he had running bowels all night. The doctor checked the man for signs of dehydration. He found none, his skin was supple, his membranes moist and flush.
The doctor suspected the man was lying. He however preferred to err on the side of being rigorous in his diagnosis. So he sent him for a blood test to see whether there were signs that the body was fighting an infection. None was found.
The doctor told the man that he did not find any signs of an infection. The man then told the doctor that his tummy was hurting and he believed that he had an internal problem.
The doctor placed the man to lie down on the examination table and began to press different parts of the man’s tummy. With every press, the man screamed. He even screamed when the doctor attempted to but did not press the tummy.
The doctor was certain that the man was feigning illness and so he decided to play along. He told the man that he needed to send him to do surgery.
The man sprang off the table. He confessed that he was there to get a doctor’s certificate so that he could absent himself from work on the grounds that he was sick.
This was not an isolated case. Each day hundreds of persons flock to the out-patient department of government hospitals and health clinics in order to get medical help. A fair percentage of those that go to these outpatient services are Government workers seeking to obtain a medical certificate so that they can absent from work. Many of them can work but they are intent to staying away from work.
This is an abuse of the health system. The system is being clogged up by those whose motive is to obtain a sick-leave certificate. Persons who are genuinely sick have to wait in line.
There is a need for more stringent action to be taken to reduce the incidence of those who are faking illnesses in order to get medical certificates which will allow them off from work for a couple of days.
There are a number of qualified doctors trained in Cuba and in Guyana who cannot find jobs in the local health system. These persons should be employed within Government ministries and departments. Any person who is sick should have to go to these in-house doctors to certify them as being sick.
There was a report also yesterday about a number of medexes who cannot find employment as yet. Whatever is the problem needs to be sorted out and these medexes can also be put to work in ministries and government departments to ensure that workers are genuinely sick before they obtain sick leave certificate.
A number of private companies, in the past used to have in-house doctors to treat workers. The experience has been that in– house doctors reduced the aggregate number of sick days claimed by workers.
The workers had the option of regularly being seen by the doctor. This served as a preventative measures against some major illnesses. When the workers contracted some communicable disease, they could visit the in–house doctors free of cost and at the onset of any illness, thereby ensuring that swift action could be taken to bring relief.
The experience is that in-house doctors, while costly, initially, had long-term gains. It reduced overall sick leave and thereby ensured more production. It improved relations between the companies and their staff since this initiative was seen as one which had the workers’ interest at heart.
The Government of Guyana should contemplate placing doctors and medexes in ministries and public departments as a means of finding jobs for those in the medical profession without a job, while reducing absenteeism due to fake illnesses and improving worker production and productivity.

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